Sick Bay Regular
by FlurryODancingFlames
Summary: Izanna is widely know as the walking disaster among the ship. Regular visits to the med-bay over the months have lead to a sort of friendship with Doctor McCoy, who is always seemingly working when she visits. What will happen when they meet outside of the comfortable boundaries they have set in the Sick Bay? Follow Izanna and Bones as they blunder their way through life and love.
1. Defaulty Turbolift and Confessions

**Author's Note: **I own nothing but the plot and my OC.

I am taking fanfic requests for anyone whose interested. My profile has more details.

Enjoy~

* * *

"Scotty," said Jim, "How long do you think it'll take to fix everything?"

"I'd say at least two weeks." Scotty replied. "No promises though."

"Scotty we don't have two weeks."

"It's not like fixin this shit is easy. I've only got a few bloody people who can fix this fucking ship. There's only so much time in a goddamn day Jim," Scotty yelled.

Jim ran a hand through his hair before looking back to the screen at Scotty, "You really don't have enough people?"

"Well, there is a certain Science Officer who would make this process a lot fucking faster."

"Are you referring to Lieutenant Latimer?" Spock inquired, sticking his head over Jim's shoulder.

"That I am."

"Izanna? How could she help?" Jim asked.

"She is a Science Officer but has invented quite a few things that have revolutionized the engineering of starships. She'd have an advanced understanding of how the ship works and would be able to help Mr. Scott complete repairs much faster," Spock said.

"Why is she a Science Officer then?" said Kirk.

"I asked her that and she said her first love is science. Engineering is a bloody science," Scotty scoffed.

"I do believe it's because engineering doesn't hold the same challenge for her as the sciences she studies," said Spock.

"She's yours for the duration of the repairs Scotty," said Jim. "Get it done in a week."

"I said no promises," Scotty snorted, turning off the com.

Kirk sighed, "Spock. Go find Lieutenant Latimer and get her started on the repairs."

"Of course," Spock said, heading for the turbolift.

**oOOOo**

Nyota set her food tray down across from Izanna, sitting with an overly dramatic sigh and pointed look at her friend.

Izanna smiled, "What's the problem today?"

"I heard repairs are going to take close to two weeks and it's not like the planet we're orbiting we can just go down and do whatever."

"Is your best friend not enough entertainment for two weeks?" Izanna said, covering her heart with a hand in mock offense.

"You are enough entertainment for several life times. Mostly for everyone else."

"What do you mean, 'for everyone else.'?"

Nyota reached out and put a hand over one of Izanna's, "Izzy, sweetie, I love you but, you severely lack a brain to mouth filter and embarrass yourself a lot. Normally that's a best friend's job but you do just fine without me."

"I do not," She scuffed, crossing her arms and turning away.

"Your cheeks puff out a bit when you do that and it's adorable," Nyota smirked. She stood up and reached over the table to grab one of Izanna's cheeks. "Just look at how cute you are and how big you haven't gotten."

Izanna slapped her hand away, "I am a being of pure terror and you should fear me."

"Oh yeah, all five feet of you. I'm terrified."

Izanna pointed a fork at her friend, "Good." She went to go take a bite of her food only to look back up at Nyota. "And I have too gotten bigger."

"You haven't grown since we were fourteen." Nyota huffed.

"That wasn't that long ago." Izanna said softly.

"That was ten years ago." Nyota exclaimed.

"If I may inquire," Spock interrupted, having silently walked up behind Nyota, "What was ten years ago?"

"Her last growth spurt. And it wasn't even really a spurt, it was an inch; more of a stutter. " said Nyota. Izanna suck her tongue out, making Nyota chuckle while the side of Spock's mouth tilted up in mild amusement. "Did you need something, dear?"

"I'm actually here for Lieutenant Latimer," Spock said.

Izanna scrunched up her face in disgust, "I don't like it when you call me that. It means you're here for official businessy stuffs."

Spock gave her a small, forced smile, "I am. You are to help Mr. Scott finish repairs for the ship."

"Why is it always me?" Izanna groaned at the ceiling. "When do I start?"

"Immediately," Spock replied. Izanna proceeded to make a bunch of noises and rest her head on the table. "What was that?"

Nyota chuckled, "Disgruntled human noises." Spock just lightly shook his head and left for the bridge. "Looks like your week is gonna be full of fun."

Izanna lifted her head, "Because spending my week with a grumpy Scotsman is exactly my idea of fun."

"You don't seem to mind when it's a grumpy doctor," Nyota teased.

"Shut up," Izanna hissed, her face turning red.

The grumpy doctor Nyota was referring to would be the Chief Medical Officer. Izanna had formed a sort of friendship with the doctor over the past few months since starting work aboard the Enterprise. She had quickly gained a reputation of being a walking disaster, often getting hurt and having to go to the sickbay at least once a week. By pure coincidence McCoy was generally the one working when she went to the sickbay though the gossip around the ship would say otherwise. The gruff doctor had quickly gotten her to open up to him and she had managed to get him to warm up to her. She loved being able to get him to smile even in his grumpiest of moods and had developed a rather large crush on him.

"Maybe if you're lucky you'll get some mouth to mouth resuscitation," said Nyota, wiggling her eyebrows.

"That was bad and you should feel bad," Izanna said, turning increasing shades of red.

"You're so cute when you blush, it even goes all the way down your chest."

"You're mean and I'm leaving," Izanna said, standing up and going to move away from the table. She suddenly found the floor in her face and the chair she had just emptied half on top of her. She rolled her eyes at her friend's laughter and moved some of her dark brown hair out of her eyes, "Glad to know you take pleasure in my misfortune."

She felt the chair being removed from her legs and two large hands wrapping around her upper arms, lifting her to her feet, speaking in a southern drawl she knew quite well. "Ya know Iza, I have never seen someone be so constantly clumsy before." She smiled, only one person called her by that nickname.

Looking up her eyes connected with the blue eyes of the grumpy doctor whose brow was furrowed but a smile playing on his lips. Turning an impressive shade of red, looking anywhere but his face she tried to mutter out a thanks but, it more came out as a drawn out stutter.

McCoy let go of her and went to step back only to have to grab her again as her left leg gave out under her. "You must have sprained your ankle," He said frowning even more than seemed physically possible. "I'll take you to sickbay and look at it."

Her eyes snapped up to his and she tried extracting herself from his grip. "N-no, Len. Really. It's okay. I'm fine. Completely A-okay," Izanna said, glancing around nervously.

Rolling his eyes he released his grip letting her stand on her own for a moment before grabbing her as her leg gave out again. "Completely A-okay, huh?" He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"Alright. Proficient B-okay," She paused at the light chuckle she earned from the doctor, a slight smile gracing her lips. "But you don't have to take me, Nyota and I just finished and were leaving."

Nyota gave her friend a wicked smirk, "I'm still eating. Just have him take you," Izanna gaped at Nyota as she threw her under the bus.

"Settled then," Bones said before Izanna could argue anymore. "I'll have to carry you."

"What? Why?" Izanna squeaked.

Bones sighed, "Because you're too short to put your arm around my shoulder without me having to bend way over. It'll be easier just to carry you," Her protests were lost in another squeak as he lifted her up into his arms bridal style and she instinctively threw her arms around his neck, clutching tightly. "Complain or protest and I'll carry you like a sack of potatoes."

She just nodded and loosened her arms as her heart seemed to be trying to beat it's way out of her chest. Taking a deep breath to try and calm herself backfired as she inhaled his scent; he smelt like old whiskey, spicy cologne, and antiseptic. Being up this close she also noticed that he had a light dusting of freckles across his nose and cheekbones. His dark hair was a bit messy and he had a few days worth of unshaven stubble on his face. He looked tired but still stood strong, being able to easily walk with her down the corridor.

They walked in a slightly uncomfortable silence down the corridor, which seemed to get worse as they passed more and more people who would whisper to one another as they passed. A few yards from the turbolift they got stopped by a loud, "Bones", being shouted down the corridor. Bones turned to see the Captain and First Officer walking towards them, his lips pressed into a thin line and he turned back to keep walking. An offended sounding, "Bones", was called down the corridor this time. The Captain had speed up and managed to stop them right before entering the turbolift.

"Bones," Kirk scuffed in a teasing tone, "The whole 'sweep her off her feet' thing doesn't mean to actually sweep her off her feet."

Bones rolled his eyes and adjusted his hold on her, "She sprained her ankle."

"You also look a bit flushed Lieutenant," Spock said, a corner of his mouth twitching up for a moment.

Bones examined her face closely and leaned his head forward to touch his forehead to hers, his piercing gaze settling on her eyes. "You don't feel too warm but you do look flushed. You feeling alright?" He asked concern in his voice.

"I feel fine," Izanna said softly as butterflies fluttered out of control in her stomach. She felt dizzy and excited, smiling softly at him she broke eye contact.

"Ya know Iz," Jim said, "You sure do get hurt a lot. You don't have any ulterior motives for going to the sickbay constantly do you?"

"Yes Captain. I purposefully almost knocked myself unconscious to continue my affair with the office fern, Frank." Izanna said. Bones laughed and her heart tried to jump out of her chest; she grinned widely at him.

The incident Izanna had mentioned happened a week ago when she had made her way out of a turbolift and onto the bridge, forgetting about the small step around the central part of the room. Missing the step she fell but, she managed to catch herself, with her head, on the corner, of a control board. Apparently she somehow convinced everyone on the bridge that she could in fact, walk to the sickbay herself, not that she remembers doing this. The next thing she remembers is sitting in Bones office with him dabbing antiseptic on a small cut she had gotten and him lecturing her. Having gotten a major concussion he had made her stay with him until an officer in her department, wondering where she was, came to get her. The few hours with the doctor had kept a smile on her face all week.

Kirk just chuckled, "And here are thought you were gonna tell me it's the skeleton. Start on repairs when your randevu is done and try not to hurt yourself anymore."

"I promise nothing," she replied, glaring at the Captain and his not so subtle implication.

Spock and Kirk said their goodbyes and left, Kirk pausing for a moment to wiggle his eyebrows at Izanna and wink. She turned to look at Bones who raised an eyebrow, she just gave him a small smile and removed an arm to push the button to the turbolift. Walking in Bones said for it to take them down to the sickbay. The turbolift took off immediately, going down a ways only to suddenly come to a shuddering stop and sending them both crashing to the floor. Izanna let out a yelp as she ended up sprawled atop Bones while he picked a few choice words.

Bones groaned under her, "You alright?"

Izanna let out a small mhmm from where her face was pressed into Bones chest and turned her head to speak, "Just got my ankle jarred and my nose got slammed into your chest. You?"

One of his hands reached down to give her hip a light squeeze, "I'm fine. Can you get up on your own?" Her heart seemed to stop for a moment, this day was going to be fatal if things like this kept happening.

"Enough so you can get up," she said, sitting up and rolling up off of him. "Help me up?

"Yeah, sure," he replied, helping Izanna to her feet.

"Open control panel," she said. When nothing happened she let out a frustrated grumble and pulled out her com. Opening it she called Scotty.

There was a bit of static before Scotty's voice came through, "Izzy? That you?"

"That it would be," Izanna said.

"Where the bloody hell are you? You should have been down here by now."

"About that, funny story..."

"What the hell did you do?" Scotty asked.

"Why do you assume I did something?"

"Well there was that time you turn Pike's skin pink for a week and hacked into the High Council on Vulcans' computer system just to prove a point," Scotty said. "And that's just the things you did on purpose.

"You hacked into the Vulcan's computer system?" Bones exclaimed in exasperation.

"They can't prove that was me," she rebuttled.

"Dammit woman, that's not the point," Bones said.

"Who's with you?" Scotty asked.

"Can't you just check the camera?" she said

"That's bloody broken too."

"Fucking fantastic, another damn thing to fix. I'm with Len. I sprained my ankle and he was helping me to the sickbay when the turbolift we're on came to a sudden stop. I tried to get the panel open but it seems the controls here aren't working right, I'm going to need you to open it or move the turbolift."

"Len? As in McCoy? The doctor you refer to as Dr. McGrumpybutt? That doctor?" Scotty teased.

"Just get the damn panel open," Izanna said and turning to look at Bones who was giving her a questioning look. "It's an affectionate nickname I promise."

"Said with nothing but love," said Scotty in a sing-song voice.

"The panel Scotty," Izanna said.

"You wanna explain?" Bones asked, turning her and forcing her to face him.

"I know you're just gruff but you just seem always quite grumpy whenever I come into the sickbay, especially as of late," Izanna muttered at her feet.

Bones sighed heavily and used his free hand to rubbed the back of his neck, "I only get to see you when you're in my sickbay and hurt, that'd make anyone grumpy only seeing a friend when they're hurt."

Izanna knew that even if he did have feelings for her there's no way he'd just casually mention it considering almost no one does that but, it didn't stop her heart from giving a painful pang and plummeting into her stomach. She gave an unconvincing and short laugh, "Yeah, I guess it would."

The silence that followed was awkward as neither knew what to say, they were saved by Scotty coming through the com a minute later. "So..." Scotty started, "We have a problem."

"What kind of problem?" She asked.

"I can't move the lift or open the bloody fucking panel. It's going to take me at least six hours to fix shit on my end, then you're on you're own. Ironically you picked the only damn lift that's damaged which, with your luck really isn't that ironic or surprising."

"Thanks Scotty," she replied dryly.

"Shut up and be glad you have company. I'll inform Jim about this goddamn situation," Scotty said.

"Have fun with that," Izanna said. There was a tense silence before she spoke, "We should sit. I'm sure you don't want to hold me up for several hours."

"As much as I enjoy holding you, I don't believe I have the muscle strength or endurance to keep you up for hours," He said while helping her sit up against a wall and sitting next to her. Izanna's head whipped to look at him and she felt him tense beside her as he realized what he had said. She swore she saw a light blush cross his cheeks before one of his hands ran down his face, stopping over his cheeks and he cleared his throat to speak, "Dammit. Help. I meant help."

Izanna gave an unconvincing, "Of course." and let silence fall between them.

Taking deep breaths to help with her anxiety, her heart finally seemed to be going into a normal calm beat. Which didn't last very long when Bones broke the silence, "Since we're stuck here you should let me look at your ankle," he said.

Her heart sped up like a rocket and a blush coloring her cheeks again, silently cursing herself for letting just a few words from him affect her so much. She glanced at him before turning and backing up intending to take off her boot, his hands pushed hers away for him to do it. She hissed as he eased her boot off, his eyes flicker briefly to her face before continuing and taking her sock off with the same care. He rolled up her pant leg at bit, exchanging her foot between hands to turn and examine.

Izanna had been surprised the first time the gruff doctor had treat a wound on her, not knowing him at the time she had thought him grumpy and a bit short. He had surprised her with how gentle his hands were, his touch barely there and only pressing down when needed. He was always like that, his words could be like a whip as he was lecturing you while treating a wound but his hands would treat her like a glass orb. She figured he was like that with everyone but his gentleness never failed to make her smile.

She always examined him while he worked, finding little habits in his work. He always pushed his sleeves up to his elbows and she would watch the way his forearms flexed as his hands went to work. The blue uniform shirt he wore wasn't form fitting but it wasn't lose either, showing he had a good amount of muscle in his upper arms and chest; his pants were the same, just showing the faint outline of his body. His face would go into a mask of concentration which made him look a bit grumpy and annoyed, he wore that face often when working and it was no wonder he had a reputation of being a grumpy doctor. Izanna would chastise herself for staring too much but, didn't everyone stare at their doctors a bit while being examined.

"Well," Bones said, still holding on to her leg, "You sprained it pretty good this time. It's not just swollen it's purple too. You're going to need to stay off it for a few days."

Izanna sighed in frustration and flopped back to lay on the ground and she heard the doctor chuckle. "Glad to know you find me being crippled amusing." She said, sitting up on her elbows. He just flashed her a smile before rolling her pant leg up and putting her sock back on, forgoing the boot.

Putting her foot gently on the ground he leaned back into the wall and tipped his head back, closing his eyes with a soft sigh. Izanna moved back to her position next to him, unconsciously putting herself closer than they had been originally; their shoulders just lightly touching. They sat like that for awhile, the silence comfortable and soothing. So soothing it seemed to have put Bones to sleep, Izanna only noticing when he tilted toward her, his head coming to a stop on her shoulder.

Figuring that couldn't be comfortable with his neck at that angle she moved him from her shoulder to her lap which was harder than she thought it would be. She was glad to have chosen to sit on his left side so his head would be resting on her uninjured leg. Only minutes had passed when Bones turned in his sleep and buried his face in her hip; one arm coming around behind her lower back, his hand gripping her hip; and the other came up beneath her thigh, his hand grabbing tightly there as well.

Her cheeks were covered with a blush as she put her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter, finding it amusing at how adorable the gruff man was being. She sat there for a few minutes debating whether she should close her eyes to get some sleep as she absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair. This earned her a low grumble and his arms wrapped tighter around her, pressing himself in close. Smiling, she continued running her hands through his hair and his grip loosened some as he relaxed into her touch.

They stayed like that, Izanna petting him, switching arms every now and then as they got tired. She had a hand in his hair when he rolled onto his back and slowly started waking up. She paused her movements continuing when he made a noise of objection at her stopping. His eyes opened a few minutes later and he squinted until they adjusted to the light.

"You're quite the cuddler," said Izanna in a soft, light voice. "I thought you might drag me to the ground with you to use me as a teddy bear or pillow."

He seemed to come completely awake at her comment and sat up stiffly, letting out a low groan as his muscle stretched out. Rubbing the back of his neck he shot her a glance and muttered a sorry.

"It's okay. You looked pretty tired as it was, not like we have much else to do anyway." She said.

"How long was I out?" Bones asked, voice still rough with sleep.

"An hour I think," she replied, trying to ignore how utterly sexy his voice was right now.

"Scotty said about six hours right? So, round' four and a half hours left."

"Give or take."

Bones groaned, "And what are we suppose to do for nearly five hours?"

"Meticulously inspect the walls?"

"There are things in here far more interesting than the walls," he said, some else underlying in his voice.

Izanna blushed and looked away from him, ignoring that voice in her head telling her what was he was implying. "The ceiling?"

He snorted and turned to rest his back against the wall again before replying, "Yes, because the box we're stuck in is far more interesting than the living creature next to me," sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Must not be a very interesting creature then," she mumbled back.

The doctor frowned at her comment, "Hey, look at me." He wait until she had looked at him with her soft brown eyes, fidgeting slightly. Taking a deep breath he continued, "I wouldn't waste my time if you weren't interesting."

Izanna smiled widely and quickly looked away, another blush forming on her cheeks. "Thanks," she softly said.

Bones hummed in reply and allowed a silence to settle between them. Broken in a few minutes when Izanna asked him a question, "What _is _interesting about me?"

"I'd have an easier time with what isn't interesting about you, nothing," he muttered under his breath, forgetting with Izanna being so close she would hear every word.

"Do-do you really mean that?" she asked in a breathless whisper.

Pink bloomed across the doctor's face as he scrambled for a reply. "Like I already said, I wouldn't waste my time if you weren't interesting," he said, folding his arms and looking away from her.

She leaned in close and he could feel her chest pressing into his upper arm, almost completely missing what she was saying when her breath hit his neck. "But that doesn't mean _everything _about me is interesting."

"I never said that," he quickly defended.

"No, but you said that-"

He cut her off, "I'm aware of what I said."

She moved back into her previous position and muttered to herself, "I'd beg to differ."

Bones whipped his head to look at her, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"N-nothing," she replied, scooting away.

"I don't think so," he said, voice dark and teasing. He moved with her, making sure their shoulders stayed in contact.

"You think wrong," Izanna boldly stated.

"I do?"

"You do," she said, voice wavering as she scooted herself into the corner.

She tried to move to the other wall but Bones was faster and moved in front of her, placing his hands on either side of her and effectively caging her. "Are you sure?" he asked, voice dropping lower.

"Y-y-yes?" she squeaked out.

Bones tutted and replied in a teasing tone, "Your funeral."

He moved his hand onto her sides and started to tickle her. Izanna let out a squeal of surprise followed quickly by uncontrollable laughter. Bones smiled as the woman squirmed and tried to escape, she almost succeeded in doing so until he pressed his lower half between her legs, cutting off any chance of escape. Izanna noticed the change in position and tried to keep from bucking her hips and much to her embarrassment, could not; luckily he seemed to concerned with keeping her pinned to notice.

"S-st-stop!" she finally gasped out in between laughs.

"You want me to stop?" Bones asked, voice filled with amusement.

"Yes!"

"And what do we say?"

"Please!"

"Please what?"

"Please stop!"

"Please stop what?" he asked in an unconvincing innocent voice.

"Oh god!" she gasped, leaning her head against the corner. "Please stop tickling me."

Bones chuckled and relented, hands coming to a stop on her waist. Her chest was heaving as she caught her breath and occasionally let out a shaky laugh. Lifting her head up she looked up at Bones, who was now mostly above her after she slid a ways down the wall during her plight. She looked away, her already red face concealing whatever blush may have painted her face. Swallowing thickly she looked back at him, unable to keep her eyes away even though she wanted to look away.

He leaned his head down towards her slowly, giving her time to protest if she wanted. Izanna clutched squeezed his biceps, vaguely wondering when she had grabbed him and quickly shook of the thought as he stopped, his face less than an inch away from her. Wondering if he was waiting for her to close the gap and just as she was doing so, a voice resounded around the lift.

"I got the com working." Scotty's voice said. They both froze, too startled to say anything. "And," Scotty started up again, drawing out the word, "I got the cameras working but I can always turn them back off. If you'd like."

Bones mutter a, dammit Scotty, under his breath and lifted himself off of Izanna. She quickly sat up and leaned against the wall, refusing to look at him.

"No," she said, voice wavering. Whether from exhaustion or something else she wasn't quite sure, "We just got into a tickle war is all."

Scotty laughed, "And Spock likes to wear tutus and prance about the ship."

"How'd you find out about the tutu thing? Nyota said she only told me," Izanna said.

Bones gave a light chuckle as Scotty replied, "The only people you're bloody fooling are yourselves. I should be done sooner than I expected, I'd say three hours."

"That makes it only an hour less than the time you originally said," Bones scuffed.

"And that's bloody fucking better isn't it? You want alone time with the damn woman ask her out." There was a pause as they heard a muffled voice. "Izzy, Uhura says you two are going to have a long talk after all this."

Izanna groaned, "That doesn't sound good."

"She sounded really fucking amused if that makes you feel better. I'm going back to work and I strongly suggest doing something else. I spy or something," Scotty said before ending the call with an audible click.

Izanna glance at Bones before letting a small smile cross her face. "Hey Len?"

Bones smiled back with a hopeful glint in his eyes, "Yeah?"

"I spy-" she started, only to be cut off.

"Dammit woman," he said with a sigh, leaning his head back against the wall. The smile stayed on his face as he watched the woman dissolve into a fit of giggles, even if he did roll his eyes and huff about her silliness.

They passed the time switching between silence and talking about whatever came to mind. Izanna immensely enjoyed this, being able to relax and be herself around him. She loved the smile that never fell from his lips during this time, he was still his gruff self but it was nice to seem him smiling. He through his head back in a deep laugh at something she had said and she was quite proud of herself for it. It was then she realized she was falling very hard for this man.

They were sitting in silence for a few minutes when Bones broke it, "Hey Iza?"

"Yeah?" she asked, looking over at him. He was nervously fiddling with his hand and not quite looking her in the eye.

He took a deep breath and went to speak when Scotty's voice came through the com earlier than expected. "Eh! Still alive in there?" he asked.

Bones let out what sounded like a low growl, Izanna titled her head at him and gave him a questioning look which Bones pretended not to see. "That we are, and I see you got one panel open." she said.

"Shit. Just one? I thought I got'em all."

"Just one. Can you guess which one it is?"

There was a pause before Scotty answered, "It's the highest one isn't it?"

"Yep."

"Ah well, just have Bones lift ya up. You're bloody well smart enough to get the lift up and running fairly quick."

"I'll be down to help once I'm released from the sickbay."

Scotty snorted, "Guess I'll see ya tomorrow then."

Izanna just rolled her eyes and bid him a goodbye. "Think you can lift me up for a bit?" she asked Bones, scooting them both in front of the panel.

"I think I can manage," he replied cheekily.

Waiting until she shifted her weight to her right foot, he bent and wrapped his arms around her upper thighs. He only had to hold her for a few minutes till the lower panels came out. Izanna quickly set to work, with some of the panels being low enough that Bones only had to hold her up some of the time. It didn't go unnoticed by her that he observed her while she worked and wondered if he had noticed when she observed him.

Another hour and a half later and Izanna was closing the panels. Smiling, she pivoted in Bones grip and almost fell into him, bringing up her hands on his chest to catch herself. "Care to do the honors?" she asked.

"Sure," he said. He wrapped his an arm around her waist and pulled her into his chest. Chuckling lightly at the small squeak Izanna had let out at suddenly being pulled into his chest, he told the lift to take them to the sickbay.

The turbolift shuddered and then descended, quickly taking them to their destination. When they got close to the stop the lift gave that same sudden lurch as before, sending them both crashing to the floor again. Bones ended up slamming Izanna into the floor, unable to catch his weight on time.

"Fuck. My head." Izanna curse, voice cracking with pain.

Bones scrambled off of her as the doors opened with a whoosh and he quickly scooped her up, trying his best not to jar her. She let out a small whimper and stuck her head between her hands. He walked as quickly as he could without causing more harm, arriving at the sickbay in less that five minutes.

Taking her into one of the rooms he gently laid her on the bed. "Iza. Can you open your eyes for me?" he asked as softly as possible. She opened them and he quickly flashed a light in her eyes causing her to hiss and close her eyes again. "Sorry. Your concussion has gotten worse. I'll give you something for the pain, wrap your ankle then leave you to sleep for a bit."

She made a noise of acknowledgement and he left to grab painkillers and a bandage for her ankle. When he came back she was on her side facing away from the door, acting quickly he stuck the hypo to her neck and pressed the button to trigger it. She yelped in surprise and rolled onto her back, muttering some choice words under her breath.

Bones picked up her leg, shucked off her sock, and rolled up her pant leg. While he was carefully wrapping her ankle it occurred to him that he had left her boot in the turbolift, sighing he hoped it would still be there when he was done. Izanna's body had gone slack, he had forgotten about her hypersensitivity to narcotics and gave her a full dose instead of a half dose; she was going to be sleeping a lot over the next twenty-four hours. Setting her leg down he propped a pillow under it and grabbed a blanket to cover her with. Pausing by her head as he finished pulling the blanket over her he smoothed some of the hair back from her forehead and lightly pressed his lips there.

He quickly straighten and left, turning the light off as he shut the door behind him. Not knowing that Izanna had not quite succumbed to sleep yet and had left her there to wonder if she had imagined that or not. Before she could decided darkness overcame her and she fell into unconsciousness.

**oOOOo**

Izanna woke early the next day, her hypersensitivity to the drug keeping her asleep longer than normal. She woke up feeling like she had gotten hit by a truck, her head was pounding and her limbs weren't wanting to cooperate. Slowing opening her eyes she turned her head to look for someone, Nyota was sitting in the chair beside her bed with Spock at her side. Izanna tried to say something but it came out as a hoarse whine. Nyota's eyes snapped to her friend's and she quickly assured her she'd get some water while Spock said he would go and get Dr. McCoy.

Nyota helped her to sit up and drink some water, movement slowly returning to her limbs. Bones walked in the door and Izanna smiled at him, "Bastard." she said jokingly. Her voice was still somewhat hoarse and she drank more water.

"How are you feeling?" Bones asked, pulling up a stool next to her.

"My heads pounding, I'm sore, tired, crabby, and kinda hungry. Otherwise I'm pretty good." she replied.

"Well, you did sleep through the rest of the day. Get some food and some rest. Stay off that foot and try not to jar your head." he said, his tone making it clear she was not to argue.

"I didn't think we were in the lift that long." she muttered. "You gonna be carrying me again?"

"No, I'll be." Nyota said a bit too harshly and lifted Izanna into her arms. Izanna wrapped her arms around Nyota's neck. "Spock will you grab her boots?"

"Of course. I could also carry her if you'd like." Spock said.

"No, I'll do it." Nyota said curtly.

"Len?" Izanna said, Bones replied with a mhm and she continued. "Get some rest too. You look like you haven't slept."

"I will." Bones promised.

Izanna stayed in silence during the walk to her quarters, letting Nyota fume a bit before talking to her. Coming to the keypad of her quarters, she leaned over and entered her code. Nyota carefully place her on the bed and went shuffling about the room, straightening things here and there. Spock had set her boots down by her bed and quietly left as Nyota finished straightening out everything in Izanna's small quarters.

"You're mad at me." Izanna stated.

Nyota sighed and sat down next to her. "More annoyed than anything. You constantly somehow end up in weird situations and get hurt. It's hard to handle all the time," said Nyota.

"You know you don't always have to come to my rescue," Izanna said.

"Yes I do." Nyota patted her head and got up. "I'll go get you some food. Rest," she commanded as she left.

"Nyota?" she called. Her friend turned and she continued, "I think... I think Len kissed my forehead before I passed out. Why would he do that?" Nyota just rolled her eyes and repeated her command then swiftly left.

Izanna sighed and pulled the blankets up to her chin, snuggling in deep. When Nyota got back she found Izanna asleep, setting the food down on the nightstand she turned and left, shutting off the light as she did.

**oOOOo**

Izanna awoke in the early evening and ate the food Nyota had left for her. Now currently struggling to get off her blue uniform shirt off, she already gotten her pants off but her arms were bent oddly and constricted, the shirt covering her face. She sighed and sat up from where she had been squirming around on her bed, sitting on the side opposite of the door hoping to be able to get to the com and call Nyota to help her.

She heard the door to her quarters opened with a whoosh. "Nyota, sweetheart," she called. "I needed help."

There was a pause before Nyota came to stand in front of her and starting to pull. A few well placed tugs and her shirt came off. Izanna let out a sigh of relief and closed her eyes, rolling her shoulder and neck. "Than-" Izanna said looking up only to abruptly stop as her eyes meet blue ones.

Letting out a loud squeak she scrambled for a blanket, pulling it over her. "Wh-what are you doing in here? Why didn't you say it was you?"

"Nyota gave me your room code to come check on you since she was too busy to do it herself." Bones said, crossing his arms and taking a step back letting his eyes briefly run down her body, his cheeks tinting a light pink. "And I didn't tell you it was me because knowing you you would have wrenched your arm out of it's socket or something else freaking out like you just did. " She opened and shut her mouth a few times, not sure what to say to say even if she could say something.

Bones quirked an eyebrow and a sudden smirk spreading across his face. Taking a step forward in her space he leaned towards her, setting his hands on either side of her. Izanna's eyes widened and her face turned red, breath catching in her throat. His face was close enough that all she had to do was lean forward and his lips would touch hers.

Bringing his lips a hair's width from her ear he whispered, "You should probably go take your shower." He turned and sat down beside her, proceeding to take off his boots. "Don't let my presence stop you, considering all the trouble you went to getting out towels."

Izanna let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, getting up she kept the blanket clutched to her and tried not to full out sprint into the bathroom. She could feel his eyes on her as she entered the bathroom and refused to look back, shutting the door with more force than she intended. After she got out of the shower she took some extra time towel drying her hair and dressing in her shorts and overly large pajama shirt in an attempt to settle her nerves.

Bones seemed to be asleep when she left the bathroom, his arms crossed over his chest which was rising and falling with his deep breaths. She walked to the other side of her bed, she sat and slowly reached out an arm to touch him. He didn't move and she deemed it okay to lay down next to him. She must have laid slightly to close because when her head came to rest on the bed he instantly rolled over to face her and pulled her into him. She was stuck using his arm as a pillow, her face being pressed into his chest, the other arm wrapped around her waist and a leg shoved between hers; attempting to squirm out of his grip only made it worse. She had been kidding when she teased him about being a cuddler but the accusation seemed to be spot on.

Debating with herself for awhile as to whether to wake him or not, she decided on the first and lightly shook his shoulder. "Len?" she asked quietly.

"Yes?" came his immediate reply.

She tensed up in his arms,"Have you been awake this entire time?"

"More like dozing on and off," he said.

"And?"

"And what?"

"And an explanation would be nice," she huffed, somewhat relaxing.

"I'm sure it would be," he replied.

"Len."

"Don't play dumb, you're a genius."

"With engineering and science, yes. With people? No."

"Take an educated guess."

Izanna rolled her eyes and scooted back enough to look up at his face. His eyes were open and on her, she couldn't hold his gaze for long and returned to looking at his chest. "I have no idea," she mumbled.

"You're frustrating, did you know that?"

"It's all I aspire to be."

He ignored her last comment and continued, "You just don't want to say it."

"Why don't you just tell me?"

"Maybe I want to hear you say it."

"Well, maybe I wanna hear you say it."

"God dammit woman, you're so stubborn."

"You're stubborn too."

"Now you're just repeating me."

"Maybe you're repeating me."

"We're getting nowhere fast with this."

"Stop repeating me and maybe we'll get nowhere rather slowly."

She felt his chest shake as he tried to hold back his chuckle. "You're really bad at comebacks," he said.

"I'll come on your back," she replied quickly. There was a moment of silence before she tried to backtrack, "No wait."

Bones burst out laughing and rolled onto his back as Izanna's face altered between varying shades of red.

Regaining some of her composer she sat up and turned to face him, resting her hand next to him and leaning over him a little, trying to look stern as she looked down at him. "That's not what I meant," she said.

"Too late," he said, calming down. He reached up and put a hand on her cheek, rubbing his thumb back and forth. "You're adorable when flustered."

She gaped at him, fishing around for words. "I do-don't... am not ..."

He smiled up at her, his eyes softening. "Like that," he said, it coming out more like a breath than a statement.

His smile stopped her heart; it was really lopsided and made his eyes squint a bunch, she absolutely loved it. Leaning into his hand she suddenly blurted out, "Ireallylikeyou," all in one fast almost ununderstandable word.

Somehow that impossible sweet, lopsided smile got even bigger and his eyes softened more. "I know," he said.

"Wait. What?"

"Uhura may have told me more than just the code to your room."

Izanna pursed her lips, "Excuse me while I go commit a murder."

She went to get off the bed when Bones put his hand behind her neck and started pulling her down. "It can wait," he said. Sitting up the rest of the way he closed the distance between their lips.

Seemingly unable to hold herself up Izanna gripped the front of his shirt and closed her eyes, using him to hold herself up. The kiss was soft, sweet, and filled with underlying passion. Bones broke the kiss drawing a grumble from Izanna as she moved forward to try and continue it.

"Eager are we?" he chuckled.

Smiling she pulled back and looked at him. "So, this means you like me too?" she asked shyly.

"Nope. This is all an extremely elaborate dream," he muttered sarcastically.

"Len!"

"Yes. I like you too," he said, pulling her down for another kiss and whispering into her lips, "I like you a lot."


	2. Promotion and First Meetings

**Author's Note: **I was originally going to write the second chapter to be after they've become a couple but, I had some trouble writing it the way I wanted and then this happened.

I finally fixed the whole rank thing, nothing major has changed. To address a few things mentioned in a review, which has been deleted as it was rather rude and the person contradicted themselves several times but did point out a few things that some may not have thought about in the way I have.

In terms of culture, I have no idea how far equality with have come so it'd not out of the realm of possibilities for someone to be a misogynistic ass, even the movies and TOS is sexist in the fact that _all_ the women wear a dress or skirt. Same goes for the tattoos, who says it's a common enough thing were it's no longer stereotyped? Fact is, we don't know how culture is in that era. And as far as the hypos go, I did not say they were a hypo-spray and in the movies Jim does complain about the poke of the needle. I did try to see if they had some way to mend a broken bone, which they probably do, but could not find any (if someone knows, I'd appreciate you helping me correct it).

All in all, I _am_ researching things, can't always find answers but if you are going to correct me please be respectful, you don't have to apologize for pointing out errors if your not outright rude about it.

I am currently taking fanfic requests, details on my profile.

Constructive criticism and comments would be lovely. I hope you enjoy~

* * *

Izanna took a deep breath before stepping aboard the Enterprise for the first time in attempt to keep a calm demeanor. She was ecstatic, her best friend since childhood had been working aboard the Enterprise right after they graduated from the academy while Izanna's assignment got changed last minute; she had completed training in both Engineering and Science, preferring to work as a Science Officer. She actually had been assigned to the Enterprise, only for the Gallahan to lose it's Chief Engineering Officer. No one was qualified for the job, Izanna had the know-how but lacked the ability to command while others had the ability to command but lacked the know-how. They had Izanna team up with another officer, having her teach them until they had the necessary skills. Now two years later, she was finally getting to work aboard the Enterprise as a Science Officer and helping in Engineering as needed.

Izanna wasn't bothering to listen to her Lieutenant Commander, Larry Lun, as she walked behind him; he was talking to her like she was an incompetent child who hadn't just spent the last two years practically running a ship. Izanna was changing departments, but they were overall similar and that didn't excuse his behavior towards her; working with this man was going to be hell. She was nodding along to something he was saying when she heard a familiar Scottish accent calling her name, turning around she smiled at an old friend coming up to greet her.

"Scotty," she exclaimed and pulled him into a hug, "I didn't know you were working aboard the Enterprise."

"And I didn't know you'd be working here," Scotty replied, "What are you doing in a blue shirt?"

Izanna started to speak but was interrupted by Larry, "She's a Science Officer, my officer. And we're currently busy so you can catch up another time."

"She practically ran a ship for two years, I think she knows the bloody in and outs whatever she doesn't can be learned on the job," Scotty scuffed.

"She's still my officer," Larry growled.

"She also doubles as an Engineering officer, so I'll take over from here."

"I'll be taking my leave now," Izanna said

"Bu-" Larry started, his face turning red.

"You've been treating me like trash this entire time," Izanna snapped, "You have absolutely no reason too. It's insulting and I deserve to be respected, especially by a fellow officer. Now I am leaving."

Larry tried to interject before they could leave only to be only to interrupted by Scotty.

"We'll be going now," Scotty said tugging Izanna along.

She turned back to Scotty who had a wide smirk on his face and gestured to his arm; rolling her eyes she took hold of his elbow in one hand and let him lead her away.

"I forget how commanding you can be when you want," Scotty mentioned.

"I don't mind commanding people if I have to. It's being in charge of them I don't like, way to much stress for a naturally shy person with social anxiety. And he was being an ass, I wasn't about to let him think he can just treat me like that," she said with a shrug.

"Don't worry, no one else really likes the jackass either," Scotty said pulling her into the turbolift, "I'll give you the grand tour, starting with the Engineering deck."

**oOOOo**

Bones was on the bridge currently going over a last minute check of crew members with Spock, making sure everyone was up to date on all things health. As they were nearing the bottom of the list Bones com went off, ignoring it he continued and shortly after it went silent it went off again. He noticed Spock lift an eyebrow at him and took the call while muttering about hobgoblins.

"Why am I being called? We haven't even left port," Bones said.

"Well," his head nurse started, "We have a crew member with a fractured wrist."

"That doesn't explain why I'm being called."

"She isn't up to date on, well, anything. Because she hasn't been signed off on anything she should be escorted off the ship and have everything done where ever else but, we don't exactly have time for that and you're going to have to sign off on her anyway so...," she paused and waited for Bones.

"I'll be down there shortly," Bones said with a sigh. Turning back to Spock he spoke, "Can you finish this?"

"I did so while you were talking, only one person hasn't checked out," Spock said.

"Probably the one in my Sick Bay," Bones grumbled as he pulled up their file.

Leaving the bridge he made his way to the Sick Bay while reading the file and was surprised to find that they held a high ranking position for two years but only moved up to Lieutenant. Entering the Sick Bay he walked over to the room his nurse had indicated and took a deep breath before entering the room. He saw Scotty sitting in a chair off to the side of the room, talking animatedly with the person on the examination table. Taking a look at the person on the table he almost stopped in his tracks but continued in with only a momentary pause.

The young woman on the examination table looked up at him as he got closer and gave him a shy smile as her cheeks turned a light pink before casting her big, amber brown eyes to the floor; if she was standing Bones was sure he'd be at least a head taller than her. She had short, dark brown hair that could be compared to a Vulcan woman's hairstyle only more ruffled. She was on the chubby side but god her curves, he couldn't help but let his eyes trace her body as she kept her eyes trained to the floor.

Standing in front of her he crossed his arms over his chest and started to talk.

**oOOOo**

Izanna had glanced away from Scotty to look at the person who had just entered the room and felt a light blush encompass her face; quickly giving him a small smile she looked down. He was tall, dark, and handsome with steel blue eyes and an annoyed look on his face that should have made him less attractive but didn't. His feet came into her line of view and she fidgeted until he started to talk.

"I looked through your file," he said in a southern drawl, taking her by surprise as she looked back up at him, "And it shows you haven't had a physical or any vaccines in two years and that wasn't even completed. Not only that, you've been on this ship what, maybe an hour and you've managed to get hurt. But I guess with your track record it's not unusual."

Izanna just nodded as the blush on her face increased. She heard the doctor lightly sigh as he pulled up a stool and sat, bring him to eye level with her. She opted to look at the space between Scotty and the unnamed doctor, watching as he set his PADD off to the side and push his sleeves up to his elbows.

"Can I take a look at your wrist?" he asked in a gruff tone.

She glanced at Scotty who chuckled. "He won't bite Izzy, unless you want him to," Scotty said with a smirk.

Bones shot a glare at Scotty while Izanna trained her eyes back into the space between the two men and held out her left arm for the doctor to look at. She hissed as he rolled up her sleeve and turned her wrist slightly to examine all sides. His calloused fingers were surprisingly gentle as he poked and prodded at her wrist, never causing unnecessary pain. Releasing her arm he picked his PADD back up and jotted down a few things.

"Defiantly fractured," he said, "You'll have to have a cast. How'd you manage to do this?"

"Well Doctor..."

"Leonard McCoy," Bones provided as he moved about, gathering what he needed for the cast.

"Well Dr. McCoy," Izanna said, flinching slightly as he start to put the cast on, "I fell down some stairs and caught myself on my wrist."

"First set of stairs we came to too," said Scotty.

"And you just let me fall," Izanna scoffed.

"You say that like I was suppose to fucking catch you," Scotty replied.

"You didn't even try," she said dejectedly.

"That's cause last time I did we bloody both ended up getting hurt."

"I don't think that situation is really comparable to this one."

"Sure it-" started Scotty.

"I need to do a physical on her, so you need to book it Scotty," Bones interrupted, clearly annoyed with the man.

"I don't need a physical," said Izanna as she attempted to get off the examination table now that Bones had released her arm.

Bones put a hand on her sternum and glared at her. "Yes, you do," he said and immediately regretted glaring at her as she looked at him like a kicked puppy.

Izanna once again looked to Scotty for help, only to get a shrug in response. She sat there thinking, not for long but Bones got impatient and down played it.

"Look," said Bones, "All I have to do is scan you and ask some questions, then get you caught up on all your vaccinations."

Izanna slowly nodded and Bones removed his hand from her chest, gesturing for Scotty to leave. Slowly standing from the chair, Scotty waited to see if Izanna protested at his departure and strode to the door when she didn't. He paused at the door for a moment to speak to Izanna.

"I'll be down on the Engineering deck if you need me," said Scotty.

Bones scanned Izanna over with a tricorder and mentioned everything was normal, sitting back down on the stool he grabbed his PADD and began to ask questions as he typed.

"Feeling ill at all lately?" Bones asked.

"Nope," Izanna replied shortly.

"Normal bowel movements?"

"Wow, that physical went by real fast. What do you say we move on to the vaccines?" Izanna said as she attempted to get off the table only to be stopped by Bones again.

"Would you rather me get a female nurse?" Bones said with clear annoyance, as he kept a hand on her shoulder.

"A person of a different gender won't make me any more comfortable."

"Dammit woman, then answer the questions," huffed Bones.

"Yes."

"When was your last menstrual cycle?"

"With the birth control I have I don't get one," Izanna said, shifting around in her seat, face turning more red with each question.

"Are you sexually active?"

"I really hate that question," she said while swinging her feet, "It's a very broad question. Do you mean have I ever been sexually active or have I been sexually active within the last year? Month? Week?"

Bones rolled his eyes and heard her mutter something about hoping his eyes get stuck like that. "Have you been sexually active within the last year?" he amended.

"Hmm..." she paused to think for a moment, "Possibly."

"That wasn't helpful."

"Never said I was helpful."

"You're just going to be consistently vague about this question, aren't you?"

"Maybe," Izanna said cheekily.

Bones let out a sigh but moved on, "Anything unusual happen health wise in the last year?"

"Define, unusual."

"Abnormal, weird, unexpected."

"Then no," Izanna said and Bones rolled his eyes, "Keep doing that and they'll get stuck."

He gave her a small glare and continued with his questions, "I noticed a tattoo on your wrist that wasn't logged, any other tattoos?"

"Probably. I have one on each wrist, large on on my right thigh, one on my left foot and one on my right upper arm," she replied and noticed Bones giving her a funny look. She smiled, "I don't look like the type for tattoos, huh?"

"No, you don't," he said lightly, typing down the information on his PADD. "You'll eventually have to get pictures of them in your file."

Izanna tilted her head and Bones compared her to a confused puppy. "Not gonna do that now?" she asked.

"Considering you're pant legs and sleeves aren't going to be able to roll up high enough you'll have to take them off. And I get this feeling that you'll fight me tooth and nail," Bones stated gruffly.

"Well, you're not wrong," she said.

"That was the last question, I'm going to go get the vaccines. Stay here," he order, getting off his stool and going for the door.

"Can we skip that?" she asked softly.

"No."

"How about we only do the really important ones?"

Bones hesitated for a moment before agreeing and noticed some of the tension in her shoulders disappear. He came back a few minutes later with twelve hypos and watched as Izanna's eyes got comically big, her jaw drop, and visibly went pale.

"Are those just the really important ones?" she said in a high, tight voice.

"Yep," he said simply. He felt a little bad for tricking her but, all of them are important; he guessed she'd faint after six, maybe eight.

"I really fucking hate needles," she whined and laid back on the table, keeping her eyes fixed on the ceiling.

"Says the girl with several tattoos," Bones scoffed, moving up by her left arm.

"Tattooing needles and vaccines needles are very different. Even piercing needles, which are a wider gauge, are better than these," she replied, tensing as she felt Bones shift her arm around.

"Relax, it'll hurt less," he said.

"That doesn't help," she said flatly.

"Ready?"

"No!" squeaked Izanna. She heard Bones let out a loud sigh and made a request, "Just, keep talking. Distract me."

"What should I talk about?"

"Anything."

"Do you know anyone else besides Scotty on the ship?" Bones asked, redirecting the conversation to her and quickly started to use the hypos.

"Yeah, my best friend," she said through clenched teeth.

"Who?"

"Nyota Uhura."

"Seriously?" Bones asked, pausing in his administration of the hypos.

"Surprised?"

"Sorta," he said and went back to injecting the hypos, "She's talked about her best friend occasionally and the person she describes..." he paused.

"Doesn't fit the person you've seen?" she said, jumping in to finish his sentence. "How did she describe me?"

"Not so much you as the things you've done," he said slowly and switched over to her other side, impressed she was still awake now that he was half done. "She made it sound like..."

"I'm outgoing and talkative and peppy?" she said when he paused again.

"Exactly," Bones said with a nod.

"Those we're close to tend to see a side we close off to others," Izanna said softly.

"Last one," he said, sticking the hypo in her arm.

"I feel weird."

"I'm impressed you're even awake," he said, helping her sit up and handing her a glass of water.

"I'd really rather not be," she muttered into the glass.

"Then lay down and rest," he scoffed.

"I've got things to do, people to see," she said, hopping down from the table and then promptly clutching it to prevent falling.

"And you can do that after you rest," he ordered and noticing she was going to protest continued right over her, "Doctor's orders."

"Or I can rest after," Izanna said, "My ideas are great, huh?"

"No."

"That was rhetorical."

"Didn't sound like it."

"Wasn't asking."

"Technically, you did."

"Not the point."

"Then what is?"

"That I don't need rest."

"Dammit, must you be so stubborn?" Bones asked in a huff.

"Must you?" she replied raising her eyebrows.

"Dammit woman. I'm a doctor, I have to be stubborn to deal with stubborn patients."

"Are you implying I'm stubborn?"

"No, stating."

"I'm glad you understand," she said, attempting to move around him.

"You're swaying on your feet," he pointed out and put a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"If you haven't noticed from my record, I get hurt, a lot. I have poor balance, swaying on my feet isn't new."

"Dammit, just shut up and sit down," Bones growled.

Izanna was about to reply when the door slide open and someone walked in; a man with dirty blonde hair and light green eyes in a yellow shirt. He seemed familiar to her, though she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He had a commanding presence and Izanna was unable to anything but give him her undivided attention, he was also talking rather loudly despite it being a small room.

"Bones. I've been calling you on the com for awhile now, where have you been?"

"Well, _Jim_, it's not like I have a patient or anything," Bones said, gesturing at Izanna.

"Oh? And who's this beautiful young lady?" Jim asked giving her a charming smile.

"Lieutenant Izanna Latimer," she replied extending a hand.

"Captain James T. Kirk," Jim said, taking her hand and kissing the top of it.

"What do you need Jim?" Bones cut in.

"To talk, privately."

"And that's my cue to leave," Izanna said, skirting around both men and out the door before Bones tried to make her stay.

Bones turned to Jim and glared while Jim just gave him a smirk.

"You like her," Jim stated.

"What do you want?"

"Oh come on, you gotta at least admit she's cute."

"Yes, she's stunning. Now what do you want?"

"Stunning and cute are two very different adjectives," Jim pointed out.

"Dammit Jim," Bones growled back.

"Alright, I'll drop it. For now," he replied, putting his hands up.

**oOOOo**

Izanna was quickly leaving the Sick Bay when she almost ran into someone who was standing right outside the door. A familiar face looked down at her and he quirked an eyebrow at her, seeming to wait for her to speak.

"You look surprised to see me Lieutenant," Spock said upon realizing Izanna wasn't going to speak first.

"I forgot you worked on this ship," she replied simply.

"Indeed. Have you seen Nyota yet?"

"No, haven't even told her I've been assigned here. Wanted to surprise her."

"That would explain why she did not tell me you were assigned aboard the ship," he paused for a moment, "The Captain and I will be returning to the bridge once he is done talking to Dr. McCoy, you should come with."

"That I shall do," she said smiling at him.

"While we are waiting. I had a conversation with Lieutenant Commander Lun, he's made a formal complaint, siting that you were disrespectful. He subtly tried to hint that you should be transferred, to another ship."

"He was talking to me as if I was incompetent, then tried to walk all over me and I wasn't about to let him do that."

"We have had that problem with him quite often. It would be best if he was not on the ship but we have no one to replace him," he said.

"Please tell me your not implying what I think your implying," she groaned.

"You are the only person aboard this ship who can replace him without leaving another important position vacant."

"Spock," she said.

Spock jumped in before she could say more, "Your quarters would change to the senior staff corridor. You could even delegate most of your tasks to the Lieutenants under you."

"Are you trying to bribe me?" she asked in shock.

"Merely stating certain benefits you would have in replacing the man who has repeatedly harassed female crew members, Lieutenant Uhura included."

"Well, looks like I'm getting my room upgraded," she monotones.

"Good, then you can go rest," a gruff voice said from behind her.

"I don't need to rest."

"Bullshit, you just got injected with twelve vaccines."

"He is right, getting all of your vaccines at once is not easy on the body. You should rest," Spock interjected.

"Look I'm ok- Wait, what do you mean all?" she asked before turning on Bones, "You said only the really important ones."

"I did. They're all real important," Bones snapped back.

"Alright," said Jim stepping in between the three of them, "You two stop flirting. We have a ship to launch. _Today_."

Izanna turned bright red and tried to say she wasn't, but it came out a stuttering mess. Spock quirked an eyebrow at her but she refused to meet his gaze and followed the Captain to the turbolift; the other two men trailed after them, getting in the turbolift right before the doors shut. The silence was immediately broken by Spock.

"Captain, Lieutenant Latimer has accepted the position," Spock said.

"Good. We have a few hours yet before we launch, more than enough time to transfer him and get him off my ship," Jim said.

"Wow," Izanna said, "Does no one like this guy?"

"No." Jim replied flatly.

The doors of the turbolift opened to the bridge which was a buzz with activity. Scanning around for Nyota, Izanna spotted her talking to another officer and made her way up behind her. The other officer nodded to Izanna causing Nyota to look back, do a double take, and let out an exclamation of surprise. Izanna let out a laugh as Nyota pulled her into a hug and started to rapid fire questions.

"What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me? How have you been? What's with the cast?" Nyota said, finally letting go of her friend.

"I work her, I enjoy surprising you, I've been doing well, and I fractured my wrist," she replied, ticking off each response on a finger. "And you?"

"I'm good," Nyota said with a smile.

"I am sorry to interrupt but I need to brief Lieutenant Latimer and then I must insist she go rest," Spock said.

"Why do you need to rest?" Nyota asked suspiciously.

"Just got all twelve of my vaccines done at once, no big deal," Izanna replied with a shrug.

"You are going to rest after you've been debriefed," Nyota commanded.

"Bu-"

"No buts. Now go." she said, making a shooing motion and turning back to the officer she had been talking to.

Izanna grumbled but followed Spock over to his station and took a seat. The debriefing only took twenty minutes, which was nineteen minutes to long in her book and then was dragged around to be introduced to the main people of the bridge. Spock lead her back to the Captain who was talking to Bones, abruptly stopping their conversation as the two officer approached them.

"Captain. Lieutenant Latimer is finished with debriefing. I was going to escort her to her quarters, unless you need me," Spock said.

"Bones," Jim said, clapping his friend on the shoulder, "Since you were so adamant about her resting, you can do it. Spock, with me."

Jim walked off with Spock right behind him, not giving the other two anytime to protest. Bones let out a frustrated sigh and gestured toward a turbolift, shooting a glare over his shoulder at Jim before following Izanna into the lift.

"What made you decide to listen?" Bones asked once the doors had shut.

"Nyota," she simply replied.

"What's she got on you?"

"The better question is, what doesn't she have on me?" she said with a shrug. "Best friends, huh?"

"Mine's the idiot captaining this ship."

"Thought you two seemed close, what with him being the only one I've heard call you Bones."

"Anyone else I'd stab with a hypo if they did."

"That, doesn't surprise me," she said, giggling at the glare he gave her. "I think it's sweet though, when one person has a nickname for you that only they use."

"Anyone have one for you?" he asked.

"Someone once called me Anna," she said with a sad smile and took a deep breath, "But most call me Izzy, a few call me Iz"

"I had someone once call me Leo," he paused to clear his throat, "They're not in my life anymore either."

"It's weird, how someone can go from once meaning the world to you, to being just another painful memory."

The door opened, startling them both. Getting off Bones lead the way down a labyrinth of corridors, neither speaking as they walked, letting the sound of their footsteps be the only thing to break the silence.

"I don't think," Bones said as they were nearing her quarters, "That all the memories are painful, more bittersweet than anything."

"I often find, those are the ones that hurt the most," Izanna replied softly, "Even if I'm smiling."

Bones looked down to find her giving him a soft smile, "Smiling helps. It tricks the brain, we may not actually be happy but smile enough and our brains will start to think we are."

"The power of our own minds is astonishing."

"That it is," he said, suddenly stopping in front of a door. "And this would be your quarters."

"Good, not many other quarters, less noise."

"Until everyone starts drinking, then you may as well join them, not like you'll get any sleep," Bones snorted. "Codes 1234. I assume you know how to reset it."

"I do," she replied while typing in the code and quickly changing it. Turning around she faced Bones and smiled, "I have a feeling I'll be seeing you quite often."

"With your track record I don't doubt it," he said.

"I'll be seeing you then," she said.

Bones gave a nod and returned her smile, he let out a sigh as the door shut behind her. Rubbing the back of his neck he went to leave but paused as he heard her talking.

"Ow. That's a wall. Where are the lights? Ow, still a wall. OW! What was that a brick? Wait, why am I searching for lights? Computer lights," she said.

He chuckled and shook his head, commenting to himself as he left, "Looks like that'll be sooner than I thought."


	3. Blackout and Brusies

**Author's Note: **Apologizes for this chapter taking so long and that it's short. It's 90% dialogue and it's harder than it looks to write so much dialogue for so many people at once without it getting choppy, also three pages of dialogue can sometimes only be a few minutes of conversation especially when there are so many people, have I mentioned that yet? It was bloody hard to write this and if anyone has anything with this story they'd like to see, please do let me know or, if you want to request a different story all together (hint hint, nudge nudge).

_There was a small change in last chapter that's mildly important, I'll leave it for you to find so as not to give to much away for a future chapter. If enough people can't find it I'll tell you in my A/N in the next chapter._ (It's placed during Bones and Izanna's lone conversation in the sickbay)

I do realize the people Jim sends in the small group he probably wouldn't actually send but, plot and stuff so let's pretend otherwise. I also added a little extended ending sort of thing so tell me what you think of that.

Special thanks to those who asked for a chapter where the crew must navigate in the dark; didn't go as planned but I hope you like it regardless.

Constructive criticism and comments are always welcome, seriously, I love hearing from you guys. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy~

I am currently taking request for fics, details on my profile.

* * *

Izanna stumbled out of the darkened turbolift, carefully shuffling forward till her foot hit the edge of the small step that lead down to the main part of the bridge. Finding her footing she walked forward a few steps and ran into someone, namely her boyfriend, who currently wasn't very pleased with her along with the rest of the ship.

"Who ran into me?" Bones asked, breaking through the low muttering on the bridge.

"I did," Izanna replied softly as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

Bones snorted, "Cuddling up isn't going to do you much good."

She sighed but kept her hold on him, unable to give him her signature puppy dog eyes which he would melt his grumpy mood on the spot; doesn't mean he wasn't upset and wouldn't lecture her, he'd just be less of a grump about it.

"Iz," a voice she recognized as the Captain's called out.

"I'm here," she said, laying her head on Bones chest and speaking in the general direction of the Captain.

"What happened and can you fix it?" Jim asked, diving right into the point.

"I may have cut out the lights to the entirety of the ship," she said, "And I can fix it but, I kinda need light to see what I'm doing."

"And you also managed to knock out the back-lights of the computers?" an exasperated voice called out, possibly Sulu.

"Anything that gave off light and is connected into the ships power."

"Captain," said Spock, "Do we not have emergency portable light sources in storage?"

"Yes, we do. And I _had _thought of that but I was hoping we wouldn't have to resort to it considering how long it'll take searching in the dark," Jim bit out.

"Well," Izanna started, "It's not like any of us can do much currently, that's a lot of free people to look around."

"Also a lot of people free to run into one another and get hurt," Bones said.

"A small group, _including_ you Iz, will go down to the storage area and search. Volunteers," Jim said, calling out the last word.

The room stayed silent, no one wanting to walk around a pitch black ship and stick their hands in unknown containers. Izanna was worried that'd Jim would just make her do it alone, though she knew Bones would come with her if no one else did; since they started dating two weeks ago he'd gotten more than a little over protective. She figured it'd die down in time and things would go back to normal, well, as normal as anything ever got on this ship.

Jim let out a frustrated sigh, "Fine. Spock, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Bones. You'll be joining Miss Latimer."

"God _dammit_ Jim, I'm a doctor-" Bones said.

"Who can't do anything because you can't even _see_ your patients," Jim interrupted, "Chekov, you're to go with Latimer after you have the lights and help her fix this since Scottys' gone AWOL. Now go."

The six of them made their way over to the turbolift with several curses and a few banged up shins. Once in the turbolift Bones grasped Izanna's hand, intertwining their fingers and tugging her a bit closer into his side; Izanna hummed lightly and smiled up at him, even if he couldn't see. The lift descended in silence, only breaking with the sound of the doors opening and more curses as a soft green light suddenly greeted their eyes.

"I thought you said all the lights were out," Nyota said, her dark skin giving off an almost eerie glow under the light.

"It must be running on residual energy and it looks like it's the only one too," Izanna replied.

"How did you-" Bones started, "You know what-"

"What?" Izanna sarcastically asked, interrupting him.

Bones shot her a glare, "Smart-ass."

"When you two are done flirting," Nyota cut in, "We should each pick a direction and split up."

"Wouldn't it be wiser to have a partner in case someone gets hurt?" Chekov suggested. Everyone shot a glance at Izanna.

"Wow, thanks for the faith in me guys," Izanna deadpanned.

"I do not think anyone is likely to get seriously injured during our search and we should all be within ear shot," Spock said.

"Good enough for me," Sulu said with a shrug and walked off.

Spock gave a small inclination of his head and walked in the direction directly opposite of Sulu. Uhura gave a light sigh before walking off, parallel to Spock; Chekov glanced between Bones and Izanna, quickly scampering away when Bones shot him a look. Izanna gave Bones a small smile and lightly tried tugging her hand out of his only for him to tighten his grip.

"We're suppose to split up," Izanna said.

Bones raised an eyebrow, "Do you really think I'm going to let you go off by yourself?"

"I was hoping you wouldn't," she muttered shyly, glancing between the floor and him.

Giving her a smirk, Bones leaned down and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to her lips; he could feel her smiling into it and couldn't help but smile himself. Pulling away, Bones tugged her off in a direction the others hadn't gone off in.

"Come on, I'd like to be able to see soon," Bones said, "Also I don't want to you ending up in my sickbay."

"Do you have no faith in me?" Izanna scuffed.

"Considering you've been in the sickbay nearly every week for the last six months, I don't have much," he replied, "Not in your ability to stay out of the sickbay for a week anyway."

"At least you're honest," she deadpanned.

Bones chuckled, leaning over he pressed a chaste kiss to the top of her head. Walking a bit farther they stopped when the light no longer illuminated their surroundings.

"Don't run into anything," Izanna joked, dropping his hand and shuffling forward.

"Damn, there goes my plan," Bones replied sarcastically.

"Good, wasn't a smart plan to begin with."

"And your plans are?"

"... Sometimes."

"You mean rarely."

"Oh hush you."

"And if I don't?"

Izanna ignored his comment and kept shuffling forward, coming across a shelf she started to feel along it; finding a number a weirdly shaped objects she rejected them all, none of them feeling like the lights. Moving along the shelf she stopped when she heard a thump quickly followed by a loud curse.

She laughed, "How'd that plan work out for you?"

"Shut it," Bones growled.

"And if I don't?"

"I'll make you."

"I'd like to see you try."

He chuckled darkly, "Just wait until the lights are on."

"What, can't catch me in the dark?"

"Not without one of us getting hurt."

"I don't th- ow!"

"What did you do?" Bones asked in an exasperated tone.

"Something fell on my foot," she whined, rubbing her foot.

"You mean you dropped something on your foot."

"Same thing."

"Not really."

"Just keep looking."

They spent the next half hour shuffling along the shelves and searching in silence, only broken by an occasional curse as they slammed a body part into something; hearing a loud shout they both paused.

"Think we shou-" Izanna started.

"Yeah," Bones interrupted.

Walking as carefully and quickly as possible, they hurried in the direction the shout came from. Izanna let out a yelp as she was knocked forward from someone running into her, slamming into the floor she hissed in pain.

"Len," she scuffed, "watch it."

"That wasn't me," Bones voice came from in front of her.

"Apologizes Lieutenant," Spock said.

"Apology accepted," she said, dragging herself up from the floor.

"You alright?" Bones asked.

"I'll live," she replied.

They trudged along a ways and upon hearing loud voices, followed until they found the source.

"Don't you think if I knew where the bloody lights were I'd already have them?" said Scotty.

"So you have no idea where they are?" Sulu asked.

"Do I look like I'm the one in charge of inventory? I know they're in this general vicinity," Scotty replied.

"Scotty?" Izanna called out.

"Izzy, what the hell did you do?" Scotty asked.

"Why does everyone always assume it was me?" Izanna said in exasperation.

"Was it?" Scotty said.

"_Not_ the point," she said.

"Anyway," Bones interrupted, "What was the shout?"

"I startled Chekov and then he smacked his head on something, knocked himself unconscious," Scotty said, "At least I assume, since he hasn't said a bloody word."

"Where is he?" Bones asked.

"On the floor? Somewhere?"

"Thanks Scotty, that was real helpful," Bone said sarcastically.

"Well he's _somewhere_ near me. I didn't really bother fucking looking in case I step on him," Scotty scuffed.

"Doctor McCoy," Spock said, "I suggest you find Mr. Chekov and make sure he's not bleeding. The rest of us will keep looking."

"Shouldn't one of us call Nyota?" Izanna suggested.

"I'm already here," Nyota said, voice right by Izanna's ear.

Izanna gave a surprised shout and jumped away from Nyota, knocking into Scotty, almost sending them both to the ground.

"That was my _foot_," Scotty hissed in pain, "And my ribs."

"Sorry," Izanna said sheepishly.

"Let's just get looking," Sulu said.

Bones shuffled around the area Scotty had said Chekov was in while everyone else scattered in different direction. Curses filled the air every few minutes or so as someone ran into things; Bones eventually announced that Chekov, while still unconscious, wasn't bleeding and would be fine. After two hours of looking, everyone was becoming frustrated and annoyed, especially Chekov who was not allowed to move from his position on the floor.

"Didn't you say the lights were nearby?" Izanna called out to Scotty.

"They are, but we could be passing by without realizing it," Scotty called back.

"Just fucking great," she muttered.

"Reminds me of the time we got stuck in a city wide blackout together," Scotty said.

Izanna gave a short laugh, "Only we didn't have to fix it and we weren't stuck in space until it's fixed either."

"We still had fun."

"I wouldn't qualify you almost breaking my nose with your knee fun."

"Besides the assortment of bruises acquired."

"Assortment of bruises?" Nyota cut in, "What the hell were you two doing?"

"Getting drunk," Izanna replied, "And it was dark, we'll all probably have a least a few bruises."

There was a slight lull in the conversation before Nyota spoke up again, "You never did tell me how you and Scotty met."

"At a bar," Izanna quickly said.

"You're not a bar person," Nyota said lamely.

"So?"

"What aren't you telling me?"

"We met at a bar, talked, became fast friends and have stayed in contact."

"And that's it?" Nyota questioned.

Before Izanna could answer Sulu interrupted. "I think I found it," Sulu said quickly followed by a bright light illuminating the area.

Everyone let out a cry of distress as the sudden light stung their eyes.

"Bloody hell Sulu, a fucking warning would have been nice," Scotty practically shouted.

"Sorry, accidentally pressed the button while feeling for it."

Keeping their eyes closed they let them adjust to the light, slowly opening them and blinking several times before making their way over to Sulu one by one.

"There's enough for each of us to have one," Sulu said, "But I don't think we'll need that many."

"Certainly not," said Spock, "Doctor McCoy, can you handle taking Chekov to the sickbay by yourself?"

"Yeah," Bones said with arms crossed and brows furrowed, giving Izanna a curious look.

"Mr. Scott, I'm assuming you only need Lieutenant Latimer," Spock said.

"You would be correct," Scotty replied.

"Then the rest of us shall head back up to the bridge," Spock affirmed.

Spock, Scotty, Bones, and Izanna all grabbed a lantern. They all stayed silent as they boarded the turbolift, Izanna and Scotty got off first, quickly making their way to where Izanna had been working before the blackout. Setting down his lantern Scotty started to examine the wiring, Izanna looking over his shoulder.

"You never told her," Scotty stated in a light tone.

"You never told your friends either," she quipped back, "We both had our reasons for that."

Scotty fiddled with the wiring for a minute or two before speaking again, "If I'm being honest, I'm sad it ended."

Izanna offered him a small smile. "I am too," she paused, "Do you regret it?"

"Of course not," he said as if he offended she even asked, "Do you?"

"No," she said softly but firmly.

Izanna pointed out a mistake to Scotty every once and awhile, otherwise they stayed silent; the awkward atmosphere slowly dissipating. Scotty gave Izanna a warning before completing the circuit and both shut their eyes; they couldn't help but laugh at the surprised and slightly distressed cries coming from the rest of the ship.

Jim's strained voice came through the com stationed nearby, "A little warning next time."

"Sorry Captain," Izanna said, failing to hold back her laughter.

"No you're not," Jim said, "Just do me a favor and don't mess with the engineering for awhile."

"Will do," she replied. Hearing the com end the call she turned to Scotty, "I think everyone's going to be busy for awhile. Dinner?" she asked, offering her arm.

"Gladly," he laughed, taking her offered arm and letting her lead him away.

**oOOOo**

"Hey Len," Izanna said, walking into Bones quarters, "Yo-"

She let out a startled yelp, suddenly being pinned against the wall, Bones using his body to hold her in place; she saw Bones smirk before he swiftly lowered his head to hers. His lips crashed into hers causing her to gasp in surprise and Bones took advantage to let his tongue enter her mouth. His hands came up to hold her head, tilting it to deepen the kiss and enticing a small whimper from her. She felt his lips press even harder against her's as his tongue explored her mouth, dancing across her tongue and running along her teeth. Finally gaining back some brain function, she clung to the front of his shirt and kissed back, trying to gain some control over the kiss. He let her have control for a moment, letting her tongue enter his mouth before sucking hard on her tongue and taking back dominance.

Izanna broke the kiss, breathing deeply as her head leaned against the wall and tried to will her cheeks not to burn so hot. Her gaze locked on his kiss swollen lips for a moment, flicking up to look him in the eyes and noticing him staring at her she looked over his shoulder. Letting go of her head Bones place his hands on the wall on either side of her head and leaned in; she could feel his heavy breaths caress her ear, sending an involuntary shiver down her spine.

"Told you," he whispered lowly in her ear.

Retracting his head he watched as she blinked up at him several times in confusion before understanding crossed her face.

"You ass!" she exclaimed.

Embarrassed she shoved her face in his shoulder as he laughed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. Dropping a kiss on her head, he let go and stepped back, chuckling at her inability to look him in the eye. Walking farther into his quarters Izanna grabbed a book and sat down, determined to ignore him; smiling, he grabbed a book of his own and sat down next to her. He rested his arm across the back of her seat, spending the few hours till she left enjoying one another's silent company.


	4. First Date and Interuptions

**A/N: **Thanks to everyone who has favorite, followed, and reviewed! I love hearing from you cuties, so tell me what you think and if there's anything you want to see happen in future chapters.

While I can solve riddles, I suck at making them so they are very very bad. I tried though, that's mostly why this chapter took so long, that and it's been storming everyday where I live for the past week making my internet glitchy.

As always, constructive criticism and comments are welcome. I hope you enjoy~

Would anyone be interested in me writing something like this with other characters? With a new OC and it ties into this story, or, completely new OC and story, or same OC with different character and different story? Let me know if you wanna see something like that.

**Fun fact I think you guys may find amusing**: When saving the first chapter of this series on my computer I didn't have a working title yet and I couldn't come up with anything better so it got titled as _McBoner_, and I've continued to use that when saving the chapters because I find my own immature pun _way_ too funny. I also forgot the word, flowerpot, and had to google, plant pot, to figure it out.

I am currently taking fanfiction requests, details on my profile.

* * *

Bones was trying to concentrate on the paper work he had to do but found he was unable to; his eyes and his mind kept wandering to the woman in front of him who was completely absorbed in her book. Her face showing her emotions clear as day as she read and it really was quite entertaining to watch; her face going from annoyance to joy, to sad, to mad, and everything in between.

He watch as she bit her lip and leaned forward in her seat, her lunch lay forgotten on his desk. Bones must have been staring to long because she glance over at him, a light pink dusting her cheeks as she gave him a shy smile.

"You're staring," Izanna said.

"Shit really? Hadn't noticed," he quipped back sarcastically.

Rolling her eyes she went back to her book and he glared down at his work, wishing it to dissipate. Finally giving up on his work, he went about finishing his lunch and watching his girlfriend. He hadn't actually called her his girlfriend yet, it hadn't come up in a conversation with anyone mostly because everyone already seemed to know; gossip travels faster than light on this ship.

"You should finish your lunch," Bones said, capturing her attention once again.

"As should you," she replied with a nod towards his unfinished lunch.

"I was working."

"And I was reading."

"Operative word being _was_ now eat."

"So bossy," Izanna huffed, turning to face him and grabbing her lunch.

"So stubborn," he replied back in the same tone.

"Yes but you like me," she hummed.

"Possibly."

"Most defiantly."

Bones just gave a smile in response and went back to fiddling with his lunch, suddenly nervous about what he wanted to ask her which was absurd, they were already dating, not like she was gonna turn him down.

"Shore leave is coming up, anything you wanted to do?" he finally asked.

"I thought it wasn't for another three months."

"Last I checked it was less than a month. I'll find out later."

There was a lull in the conversation as Izanna thought on it before piping up, "I could do with more books."

"I think you have to many books," Bones said, "Considering you've now got piles on the floor."

"The phrase you are looking for is, 'Not enough bookshelves.' " she replied cheekily, Bones just shook his head at her. "It could be worse," she continued, "I could be obsessed with hand carved wooden animals. Or a specific article of clothing, like hats or socks or something. _Or _even- hmph."

She was cut off by Bones leaning over the desk and pressing his lips to hers in a short, light kiss that was gone as soon as it came, leaving a tingling sensation behind. A blush covered her cheeks and a smile graced her lips, glad she finally got a second kiss having been to shy and nervous to initiate one herself.

"You talk to much," Bones said, sitting down he gestured for her to come over and when she didn't move he rolled his eyes, "Come here."

"Again with the bossiness," she muttered as she got up and moved around his desk.

"And yet, you still listen in the end," he said, tugging her down into his lap when she hesitated in front of him.

He chuckled at the small squeak that escaped her lips and went in for another kiss only for the door to open suddenly, causing a louder squeak from Izanna and her leaping out of his arms. Bones turned to glare at whoever had come in, rolling his eyes as he saw his best friend standing there.

"Am I interrupting something?" Jim asked.

Izanna said no at the same time Bones said yes, Izanna beating him to the punch continued talking, "I'll just go."

It looked like she was going to step back closer to Bones but she hesitated, cheeks coloring red and after a moment she left, throwing a goodbye over her shoulder. Bones frowned at the her hesitation, he had a feeling he knew what it was and he'd ask her later. He swung his gaze to Jim who quirked an eyebrow at him in question, when Bones gave a small shake of his head Jim shrugged and sat in the seat Izanna had vacated earlier.

"Remember how I told you not to long ago that shore leave was less than a month away?" Jim said.

"It got moved back didn't it," Bones deadpanned.

"Just a bit."

"Three months?"

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Iza," he stated simply.

"Ah Scotty must have told her," Jim mumbled.

"Dammit, I was going to take her out on a date," Bones groaned, rubbing the back of his neck.

"And what are these little lunches you've been having then?"

"A real date Jim, not this."

Jim gave his friend an amused look, "You must really like her."

"Wouldn't be dating her if I didn't."

"You could always have your date on the ship, come up with something creative," Jim suggested and gave a short laugh when Bones shot him a glare, "It's either that or wait three months."

Bones let out a sigh, "What's the worst that could go wrong?"

Jim gave him a did-you-really-just-ask-that look.

"I just jinxed it," Bones stated.

"Yes, yes you did."

**oOoOo**

"So, let me get this straight," Nyota said with a grimace, "You went to go give him a goodbye kiss or hug or something but ran instead?"

"I didn't run, I walked," Izanna huffed, "And yes I was going to but, I let my anxiety get the better of me."

"Evidently," Nyota paused, "Your going-"

"Yes yes," Izanna interrupted, "I'm going to have to tell him no matter how hard it is with my brain telling me everything that could possibly go wrong."

"Good. He already knows about your anxiety and I'm sure he'll understand."

"I hope you're right."

"When am I not?"

"Remember that road trip we took?"

"It's not my fault you have a shitty sense of direction."

"'It'll be fun' you said, 'Just a week' you said."

"I-" Nyota started only to be talked over.

"A month. We were gone a month. We ended up in Canada. How do two people fuck up so bad that on their way from San Francisco to Las Vegas that they wind up in Canada?"

"It wasn't that bad," Nyota scuffed.

" 'Hey Izzy, you ever been to Las Vegas?' " Izanna said in a bad imitation voice before returning to her own, " 'Haha. No, but I've been to Canada.' "

"You have to admit, it was fun."

"Yes, it was a fun adventure. It was also very stressful and your mother nearly _died _from worry."

"My mother's a worry wart, she could barley stand us leaving the city for class trips."

"And now we're exploring deep space. That's gotta be comforting," Izanna deadpanned as she flopped down on Nyota's bed.

"Back to our original topic," Nyota replied, laying down next to her.

"What's left to say? I'll tell him what's wrong, it's pretty simple."

"Nothing's simple with you."

"Fair enough."

"But when are you going to tell him?"

"When I work up the courage," Izanna mumbled.

"So in a week?"

"About."

"Don't you think you should tell him sooner so problems don't arise."

"It's only a week, what's the worst that could happen," there was a pause as Nyota gave Izanna a look, "I just jinxed that."

"Oh so much."

**oOoOo**

"Have you told him yet?" Nyota asked, plopping down in the chair across from Izanna's desk.

"It's only been five days," she murmured.

"And you should have talked to him five days ago."

"I went to tell him, only to be interrupted by our _dear _Captain who, for some strange reason, has been asking weird questions and sending me to do tasks he could sure as hell do himself. And because of all those interruptions, I'm behind on my work. I've barley had time for me let alone anyone else."

"And here I thought you were just spending all your free time with McCoy."

"If I had any free time I'd spend a fair amount with him but not all," Izanna said rolling her eyes, "Balance and stuff."

"What kind of weird questions?"

"Do you think it's easy to spot small blue objects in a bucket of water? Do short people notice things on higher shelves, not if they're looking for it or anything, just in general."

"That's weird even for Jim."

"And he's been having me deliver things to random people about the ship, which is what took up most of my time since I had no idea what these people _looked _like. I'm ready to strangle the man."

"I'm surprised no one has yet."

"He keeps this up and I'll-" Izanna started, only to be cut of by the sound of her com, "What can I do for you, _Captain_?" she answered, sarcasm dripping of every word.

"Come to the bridge," he responded.

"Why?"

"You'll see when you get here," he said then hung up.

"I must remember it is not a good idea to murder my boyfriend's best friend," Izanna said quietly.

"And our Captain," Nyota added.

"Oh I couldn't care less about the Captain part. Captains are replaceable, best friends not so much."

Nyota laughed, "Good luck, you'll need it."

"Thanks," she replied dryly.

**oOoOo**

"Are you sure about this?" Bones asked Jim.

"Of course," Jim said, "Would I steer you wrong?"

"Yes."

Jim rolled his eyes, "Relax."

"What if she doesn't like it?"

"She'll like it."

"You're sure."

"I'm sure."

"What are you sure about?" Izanna asked.

Bones jumped, not having noticed the small woman walk up next to him.

"You really should make some noise when you walk," Bones said, "Or I could tie a bell to you."

"Nyota tried that, it work for awhile, then I figured out how to walk without it ringing," she said with a proud smile.

"Did she tie it to your leg?" Jim questioned.

"Yes, but it rang often and loud which quickly got annoying. Anywhere else it only rang every few steps," Izanna replied, "Now why did you call me here?"

"Because," Jim said with a smirk, clapping his hands together, "You, and Bones, are going on a," he paused for a long moment, "Scavenger hunt."

"Dammit Jim we-" Bones started but stopped when Izanna let out an excited gasp.

"Scavenger hunt?!" she exclaimed, wide smile on her face.

Jim smirked at Bones before talking to Izanna, "That is what I said."

"Rules?" she demanded.

"You have to follow the clues and find everything. You'll know when your done."

"What's the first clue?"

Jim handed her a piece of paper, unfolding it she read the contents and before Bones could read it grabbed his hand, dragging him into the turbolift.

"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," Jim called after them, "And the walls aren't as thick as they seem."

"Voices echo off the walls quite well too," Sulu added.

The crew on the bridge laughed as Izanna, face beat red, all but shoved Bones into the turbolift. The doors closed behind them and she handed Bones the paper, not yet telling the lift where to take them.

"Wow, this is," Bones trailed off.

"Hilariously bad," Izanna laughed, "I can't wait to read the rest."

Bones read the note over again: _You stand in the brain, without it, the ship would be nothing. But there is one other thing the ship needs to keep beating_

"I'm assuming the heart of the ship. That would be somewhere in engineering," Bones said.

Izanna grinned at him and called out a deck number before speaking to Bones again, "Yes, but what part?"

"The warp core?" he said.

"That sounded like a question," Izanna let out a giggle at the look she received, "That's what I'm thinking."

A silence settled over them, Bones smiling as the young woman practically bounced in place; he'd never admit it to Jim but this might not be a bad idea seeing as the excitement radiated off her in waves, steadily infecting him. He clasped her hand, intertwining their fingers, watching as her cheeks tinted pink and she look up at him through her lashes.

The doors opened, revealing several red shirts chatting away, their conversation pausing when they noticed Bones and Izanna. Izanna lightly tugged his hand, leading him off the lift and into the vast expanse of the main engineering deck.

"Izzy," one of them called out, "I didn't think _you'd _be the one leading you two off to a secluded place."

Her face turned red once again and Bones shooting a glare over his shoulder quieted their laughter, somewhat.

"It's quite unfair," she said, "That only Jim teases you but everyone teases me."

Bone gave her a questioning look, "The others tease me."

"No. They _indirectly _tease you through me but never directly at you."

"Well," Bones said only to pause as he thought about it, "Huh, you're right."

"I'm sorry what was that?" Izanna asked innocently.

"I said you're right."

"Still didn't hear you."

"I said you should quit while you're ahead," Bones said, relishing in quiet laughter he got from her. "So why is it that they only tease you?"

Izanna looked at him as if she couldn't believe what he just said, "Really?"

Bones rolled his eyes, "Really."

"They're scared."

"Of me?"

"You've threatened to stab people with a hypo for less."

"Not like I've actually-"

"Yes you have," Izanna interrupted, "You've stabbed your best friend, _the Captain_, after threatening him; along with several others."

"Isolated cases."

"Clearly not since you've done it several times."

"Then why aren't they afraid of teasing you in front of me?"

"Because they know you think she's adorable when flustered," Scotty said from behind them.

"Geez Scotty, you gave me a fright. How long have you been behind us?" Izanna said, slowing down for Scotty to walk beside her.

"Well first off, no one uses 'You gave me a fright' anymore; and not long," Scotty replied.

"Oh, well say somethin- wait. You find me flustered being adorable?" she asked Bones.

Bones went to reply but was cut off by Scotty, "You could murder a man and I'm sure he'd find that adorable."

"We could test that theory," Bones said.

"I'll be on my way now," Scotty mutter, veering off in a different direction.

"See," Izanna said with a gesture in the direction Scotty just went in, "Scared of you."

"And you're not?"

"No. Though you can be intimidating at times."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"That you're intimidating at times? I thought I was pretty clear."

"Smartass," he growled, letting go of her hand to tickle her sides.

"No! This isn't fair your bigger than I am!" Izanna huffed out through her laughter.

"Not my fault you drew the short stick with the genetic lottery," he replied, stopping his attack.

"Hey!" she whined.

"Is for-"

"Don't you dare finish that fucking sentence."

"-horses. What's a cow gonna eat?"

"Your dismembered body parts," she muttered and continued walking.

"You'd have better luck feeding my dismembered body parts to pigs, they'll eat anything; cows are a bit more picky," Bones said, ensnaring her hand once again.

"I'll feed your dismembered body parts to whatever animal I goddamn want," she said. She noticed and ensign had momentarily paused in their pathway and looked like they wanted to say something but shook their head and walked away instead. "Well either everyone's going to think I'm a murder now or into some really kinky shit."

Bones leaned over to whisper in her ear, "I hope it's the latter."

Izanna jerked her head away and let out a small squeak, face quickly heating up, she struggled to find words to reply but was saved, "Look, the warp core."

"You won't be able to change the subject every time," he murmured.

"I have no idea what you mean," she replied while avoiding eye contact, "It's probably hidden nearby, I'll go look over here."

Releasing his hand she scurried off, he chuckled and went to look in another nearby area. Less than ten minutes passed before Bones called out that he found it.

"Is that-?" Izanna started to ask.

"An old vinyl record? Yes, it is," Bones said before looking in it's casing, "Well, it's the case anyway."

"In retrospect, probably should have questioned Jim's intentions with this whole thing."

"Yes, you should have."

"It's not like you did either."

"I got dragged away before I could."

"Again, you're bigger than I am, I was only able to cause you let me."

Bones smirked, "Shall we read the next clue?"

He pulled a piece of paper from inside the case and held it out for both of them to read: _I am a place that does not bring thrills, I am a place where you work on your skills. _

"Well, this one isn't as nearly as bad as the last," she commented.

"But it rhymes," he grumbled.

"Do you have something against rhyming?"

"Yes."

"Any particular reason?"

"It's annoying."

"Fair enough. What do you think the answer is?"

"The training room I'd say."

"Defiantly not a place for thrills."

"Agreed," Bones said.

Holding out his free hand, Izanna took it and they made their way back to the turbolift. Arriving at the training room with only a few people training they split up to look. The few people in the room paused for a moment, giving questioning glances before someone spoke up.

"Izzy, what are you looking for?" asked a woman.

"I have no idea," Izanna replied.

"You two aren't here for a little, wrestling?" asked another one.

"Clearly not," she said, "Found it."

"What is it?" Bones asked, walking up behind her and shooting a glare at the man who made the joke.

"A candle."

"A candle?"

"Yeah," she said smelling it,"Smells like lavender and vanilla."

"What's the next clue?" he asked, avoiding the candle she stuck in his face for him to smell. (For those who might not understand why he's avoiding the candle, the smell of lavender has a tendency to give those with penises erections so if you have one, I'd recommend not washing your clothes with anything lavender scented; use this information as you will.)

Izanna hands him a piece of paper, trying to hold back her laughter as Bones reads the clue: _A banana peel holds no appeal for a meal._

Bones blinked a few times in disbelief and finds his voice, "What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

"I have no idea," Izanna laughed.

"And again with the rhyming," Bones let out a heavy sigh, "Dining hall?"

"Dining hall," she agreed.

There were several people in the dining hall, by this time most of the ship had heard about the surprise scavenger hunt the Captain had jumped on the couple and a friend of Izanna's, Viviana, inquired about how the hunt was going, earning a shrug from Izanna and a 'just fine' from Bones. Izanna called Bones when she found it, frowning at the object she picked up the clue and read it.

"Why are you frowning?" Bones asked, resting a hand on her lower back.

"I like chocolate and I like strawberries, but I do not like chocolate covered strawberries."

"That's ... why?"

"They make the strawberries smooshy," she replied softly.

"I always forget how much of a picky eater you can be."

"I'm not _that _picky."

"Sure you're not."

"Sarcasm doesn't look good on you."

"But I'm sure you'd look good on him," a voice said just loud enough for it to reach their ears.

Bones gave an exasperated sigh then chuckled as Izanna turned red.

"Eat the damn strawberries so we can go," she grumbled.

"What's the clue?" he asked before eating one of the strawberries.

She handed him the paper and ate the other strawberry as he read it: _Do not shirk your work._

"This is absurd," Bones muttered, "What are you thinking?"

"Well, probably one of our offices. Yours or mine?"

"Let's go to mine."

As they were leaving Viviana spoke, "Office affair? Tsk tsk Izanna."

"Any relationship on this ship is an office affair," Izanna smiled, "We _do _all work together."

Viviana laughed, "Good luck with the rest of the hunt," waiting until the couple was almost out the door she called out, "Don't forget, offices are not soundproof."

Izanna turned and stuck out her tongue, laughter following her as she and Bones once again entered the turbolift.

"How many do you think there are?" she asked.

"To many," he deadpanned.

Izanna tilted her head to the side, "Not having fun?"

"Only because you're here."

She beamed up at him and going up on tiptoes to gave him a kiss on the cheek only for him to turn his head at the last moment, capturing her lips and resting his free hand on the back of her neck. Wrapping her arms around his torso she pressed up into the kiss, moving her lips in sync with his in a slow, sweet kiss. He nipped her bottom lip and pulled away, leaving her flushed and with a dazed look that only made him want to kiss her more. A smile spread across her face and noticing his intense gaze, buried her face into his chest. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, resting his chin on her head and, much to both their displeasure, had to let go as the doors of the lift whooshed open.

Upon entering Bones office they started searching; Bones going to his desk to look in the drawer that Jim would occasionally leave random objects in and found a note there. Picking it up, a shiny packet fell out and into the drawer; upon examination he rolled his eyes and stuck it in his back pocket.

He frowned as he read the front of the note: _Bones- Enjoy my gift. _Letting out a loud sigh he flipped it open to read the inside: _I put you to the test and you picked the wrong desk._

"Wrong one," Bones said, holding up the piece of paper for Izanna to see and leaning against the desk.

"He had me running around doing his errands so he could use that riddle," Izanna said, "I'm going to kill that man."

"He had you doing his errands?"

"Yes, causing me to become behind on my work."

Bones set the note down and gestured for her to come over; squinting her eyes suspiciously she slowly made her way over and stopped just in front of him. Hands resting on her hips he tugged her forward, his legs encasing hers as she came to a stop in front of him. The hand Izanna had put out to stop herself from slamming into his chest fidgeted with his shirt, glancing up at him and then back at his chest she waited for him to speak.

"Why'd you bolt?" he asked, then continued for clarification, "Last time we were in here."

Izanna bit her bottom lip and shifted around on her feet, fiddling with Bones shirt while he patiently waited and rubbed slow, soothing circles with his thumbs.

"I doubted myself," she murmured, "And let my anxiety get the better of me."

"I thought that's what it was," he gave her a small smile, "If you're to anxious to do something you don't have to do it, you know that yeah?" After she nodded he continued, "I'm not going to reject your affection either."

Grinning at him, she leaned up and press a chaste kiss to his lips; stepping out of his grasp, she motioned for him to follow her back to the lift.

They arrived to Izanna's office without incident and got to searching.

"Wow," Bones said while staring at her desk, "I think you may have, for once, under exaggerated how far behind you are."

"Yeah, he really took up a lot of my time," Izanna said, "Hey! What do you mean, 'for once'?"

"You normally over exaggerate things."

"Do not."

"While screwing with the warp core you said if you messed up the ship would explode, quickly followed by you swearing as you messed up but, no ship explosion."

"Alright, maybe a little."

They continued in silence for awhile when Bones spoke up.

"I think I found it," he said, pulling a book down from a shelf.

"Think?" she questioned

"I'm pretty sure you wouldn't keep a romance novel in your office," he replied and held out the book for her to see.

"No I would not," she said.

Bones pulled out another riddle from the book and held it out for both of them to read: _I am where you keep your plants not your pants._

"I keep hoping these will get better but they never do," he muttered.

"Our author is just bad at writing riddles," Izanna said.

"What?"

"Jim is just bad at writing riddles. You need your ears checked."

He rolled his eyes before speaking, "Botany room?"

"Unless there's another place where we keep plants on this damn ship I would think so."

"So much sass for someone so small."

Izanna humphed at him and left, Bones trailing behind while chuckling. The botany room was filled wall to wall with plant life, pathways weaving around making sure every plant was reachable.

"I have a feeling this is going to take awhile," Izanna said.

"Good thing you have great company," Bones replied.

"Not the adjective I would have used."

"What would you have used?"

"Hmm, guess."

"Amazing, stupendous, awesome, lovely, uh..."

"Maybe I shouldn't tell you, your ego seems to be taking up most of the room."

"You're not funny."

"No, I'm hilarious. Use stronger adjectives."

"And I'm the one with the ego?"

"Wonderful."

"Hmm?"

"That's the adjective I'd use, wonderful," Izanna smiled at him.

Bones walked up to her, leaning in to kiss her he spotted an empty flowerpot sitting in the crook of a tree. Izanna grumbled as he moved away to get the pot down; he picked up one of the items inside and showed it to her.

"Rose petals," he said. Glancing at the back of the record case he sighed, "They're all love songs."

"What does the note say?"

Taking it out, Bones unfolded it for them to read: _Where you rest your weary Bones._

"Well, Bones is capitalized so..." she trailed off.

"My quarters."

"I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Neither do I but, let's get it over with."

Izanna waited patiently as Bones entered the code to his cabin, door opening with a whoosh they both stepped in and froze on the spot. Soft, slow music was emanating from somewhere in the room. Candles were scattered strategically around, giving the room a dim, romantic glow. Rose petals littered the bed and floor, adding a light scent to those of the candles. Izanna moved forward when she spotted a piece of paper on the bed and picked it up to read; her moving snapped Bones out of his trance and he removed the needle from the record that was playing, sending the room into silence.

Moving behind her, Bones read the note over her shoulder: _Do my gifts hold sex appeal? Doesn't matter, go back to the banana peel._

"Not really sure I wanna go back to the dinning hall," she mumbled.

"You're going to anyway," Bones stated.

"What makes you say that?"

"Your curiosity always wins out."

She opened her mouth to protest and then closed it, only to open it an speak in the same low tone, "We should probably blow out the candles before we leave."

Bones gave one of her shoulders a squeeze and went to blow out the candles on the far side of the room; the last candle blown out the room plunged into darkness and left them blindly making their way to the door, leaving the things they had gathered behind.

"Should have left a candle lit till we got the door open," Izanna said.

"Probably."

The bright light of the hall momentarily blinded them and they made their way to the turbolift; Bones wrapping an arm around her shoulder and she wrapping hers around his waist. Reaching the dining hall they did not expect what they found; the lighting was dim and all the tables but one were pushed to the edges of the room. On that table was two tall, thin candles, a clear vase with several roses, and two table setting set across from one another. Soft music played around the room, a bit more upbeat than what had played in Bones quarters.

"So how was the hunt?" Jim asked from off to their right with a smirk on his face as he leaned against the wall.

"Confusing," Izanna answered,"I'm still confused."

Jim smiled at the short woman and walked toward her. "This, my dear," he said, tapping her nose lightly, "Is a date. All Bones idea. I may have taken some, creative liberties but it was still his idea." A bright smile lit up her face and both men couldn't help but smile a little too. "You only have two hours, so have fun."

Jim clapped his best friend on the shoulder and strolled out, mentally patting himself on the back for a job well done only to remember they both still had their uniforms on; only one missed detail, still job well done.

Bones led her over to the table, pulling out a chair for her before sitting in his own.

"Did you know the answers?" she asked.

"No, Jim thought it would be better if I knew as little as possible about the hunt itself. Make it more interesting and challenging, also gave him a lot of free range."

"Maybe a bit to much."

"Definitely a bit to much."

They spent the next two hours ignoring their food in favor of talking to on another, getting up to leave just as Jim walked back into the room. Bones put a hand on the small of her back and to steer her out of the room before Jim could make a comment.

"Use my gift wisely," Jim called out as they passed over the threshold.

Bones let out a quiet curse as Izanna asked, "What gift?"

"Nothing sweetheart," Bones reassured.

She smiled at the endearment and let it drop, leaning into his side as he walked her back to her cabin. They stopped outside her door, Bones shoving his hands in his pockets and looking down at her with a smile. It almost seemed like a date back on Earth, boy walking girl to her door and all; she giggled at the thought.

"This was," she paused for a moment, smiling up at him, "Fantastically creative."

"I was hoping you'd like it."

"I like anytime spent with you; elaborate themes, while enjoyable, are not required."

"That's good to know. This was my one good idea for a date on this damn ship."

"I'm sure you'll come up with something else for another time. But _I _get to plan our next date."

"Sounds fair. What did you have in mind?"

"What's today, Friday?" she asked and Bones hummed in confirmation, "Come to my cabin on Sunday, six o'clock."

"I'll be there," he said.

Moving forward, he didn't give her anytime to reply as he grabbed her head in between his hands and kissed her. She steady herself with her hands on his chest and let out a surprised squeak causing Bones to smile; she smiled right back, their mouths clumsily bumping together making them both smile more and let out small laughs. They pulled away and rested their foreheads against one another, both breathing unevenly. Bones kissed her again, moving his lips slow and sensually in time with hers; she softly whimpered as she felt a strong yearning radiating off of him. His tongue swiped across her bottom lip before gently nipping it and pulling away, her unconsciously following him. Catching herself, she pulled back and looked up at him with that same adorable dazed look she had had in the lift.

Smiling softly she whispered to her, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she whispered back. Pushing up on tiptoes and giving him one last, soft kiss.

Bones smiled widely at her as she turned to enter her code, she tossed a small smile at him over her shoulder as she entered her room. Turning back around in the doorway she went to say something only for a voice to carry down the hall.

"Bones. I gave you that condom to _use _not for you to just let her spend the night alone," Jim huffed at Bones.

Izanna stared wide eyed at Bones and then popped her head out from the doorway to look at Jim who looked surprised by her sudden appearance.

"Dammit Jim," Bones groaned.

"It's nice of you to give something you have no use for to someone who does," Izanna sweetly said, a slight smirk on her face.

Jim's jaw dropped and Bones doubled over with laughter.

"That was good," Bones said, straightening up and kissing her hard.

"I know," she replied when he removed his lips from hers, "Goodnight guys."

And with that she fully entered her room, doors sliding shut behind her as Bones smiled at her back and Jim just stared.

"Never seen you shocked into silence," Bones said, walking towards Jim.

"That's not the kind of response she normally has, threw me through a loop."

"There's no one else around and you're a friend; she'd have been flustered if she didn't have a comeback."

"You have quite a woman there," Jim said, falling into step with his friend.

Bones chuckled, "That I do."


	5. Stressed and Tired

**A/N: **_Holy shit,_ sorry this took so long to update guys and thank you for not only being patient but sticking with me as well. Between work, personal bullshit, and having to buy a new computer (laptops are so expensive Q~Q ) I've been all over the place. But, I really tried to push myself to get this chapter posted before July and unfortunately, this chapter didn't go well at all. I actually ended up deleting most of it because it was just that bad; I'd just rather give you guys a chapter that's actually good even if I have to take a bit more time. This chapter is short because of that, it has scenes I actually liked and didn't delete, and I think it turned out to be a nice fluffy chapter. I plan to write one-shots from this fandom and others to help get my creative juices flowing, as I do believe that's my problem, and will post them as they are written.

July also happens to be my birth month! I'll _hopefully_ be able to get at least three chapters done for this month, I will defiantly be doing a birthday special. I **will not **be posting the week of the 6th as I will be out on vacation but, I promise to come back with at least one chapter done to post right away for you guys.

As always, constrictive criticism and comments are welcome~ Make sure to leave a comment about anything you'd like to see in future chapters

I am currently taking fanfic requests, details on my profile.

* * *

"Izzy," Scotty loudly said while shaking her shoulder, "You've got to get up or you're going to be late."

"Five more minutes," Izanna said with a yawn.

"You don't bloody have five minutes."

Izanna's eyes flew open, "Shit." Hurtling out of bed she ran around the room, stripping of her pajamas and throwing on her uniform.

"Late night?" Scotty asked, closing his eyes.

"Yeah, I was up with Nyota," she replied, "I'm decent."

"Relationship problems?" Scotty inquired, leading the way out of her cabin and to the Engineering deck.

"You've noticed."

"Everyone's fucking noticed. It's hard not to with them giving each other the cold shoulder."

"I think this is the worst fight they've ever been in."

"Do you think they'll..." Scotty asked, trailing off.

"Honestly, I have no idea," Izanna sighed, "Awkward timing too, I feel bad whenever I mention my relationship."

"Can't blame you for wanting to talk about it."

"No, but I still feel bad."

They let the subject drop as they entered the Engineering deck and got straight to work.

"Alright everybody, let's get this damn show on the road," Scotty called out.

Izanna took up a station by her science officers, looking over their shoulders to make sure everything was good to go before focusing on her station and waiting for the signal to start the experiment; a message from the computer relayed, telling them estimated time was fourteen hours. She groaned, half-dead on her feet as it is, she knew this shift was going to feel way longer than it actually was.

**OoOoO**

Bones walked into Jim's quarters, he let out a light sigh as he sat down, his friends around the table giving questioning looks.

"I thought you were suppose to spend time with Izzy tonight," Jim said.

"I was, but she's out cold and she hasn't been sleeping this week so I just left her to sleep," he replied.

"She hasn't been eating either and when I tried to get her to eat she bloody well snapped at me," Scotty said.

"She did eat thought right?" Bones asked.

"Begrudgingly and not much."

"This woman is going to be the death of me," Bones sighed, murmurers of agreement were let out around the table. "Thanks guys."

Nearly two hours later Bones was being hailed by Izanna, answering it Izanna's voice was just barley heard.

"Where are you?" she asked.

Bones nearly winced at how utterly exhausted she sounded, "I'm in Jim's quarters. I saw you sleeping and after you didn't respond I left."

"Oh," she said softly, "I'm awake now."

"You should go back to sleep," Bones stated.

"Yeah. Fine. Whatever," Izanna snapped at him and hung up before he got the chance to reply.

"I'm going to go see her," Bones said, quickly leaving the room.

**OoOoO**

Bones didn't bother ringing, knowing she wouldn't let him in. He found her sitting with her back against her headboard writing up reports. Toeing off his shoes he walked over and took her work away, placing it on her desk.

"Give it back Len," Izanna said.

"No, you're overworking yourself and you need to sleep."

"I'm fine, now give it back."

"Bullshit."

Tossing a glare his way she got off the bed and went to move around him, only to be picked up and be set back down on the bed.

"Len, I have work to do."

"As both your boyfriend and doctor, I'm saying you need to sleep."

"Which I will do when I'm done," she growled, trying to sit up.

"No, you'll do it now," Bones growled right back, shoving her down. "You've been doing three different jobs and that experiment all week, you overbooked yourself and you damn well know it."

"I did not, I'm doing just fine."

"Bullshit."

"Let me up."

"No."

"Fine," she snapped, "Get out so I can sleep then."

"No," he repeated, taking off his shirt and pants before putting them on a nearby chair.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked with wide eyes as a blush spread across her face.

"Making sure you actually sleep," he said climbing under the covers, "Now go change out of your uniform."

"Oh," was all she said, unsure whether to be relived or not.

She could feel his gaze burning into her back as she changed, her face turning an alarming shade of red when she remember the shirt she'd been wearing for pajamas was one she had snatch from his room when he wasn't looking. To exhausted to rummage through her drawers to find a different shirt she just put on his, which was followed by a loud sigh as she didn't have pajama pants or shorts. Muttering, fuck it, to herself and removing her bra she joined him on the bed. Bones raised an eyebrow at her but made no comment and called for the lights to be shut off.

"Come here," Bones said.

It was said so softly Izanna almost missed it and scooted closer to him. She let out a squeak at suddenly being pulled down into his chest, flushing red as he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and whispering a goodnight; huffing out a goodnight back at him she squirmed around until she was comfortable, falling asleep shortly there after with Bones lightly running his fingers through her hair.


	6. Shame and Secrets

**A/N: **Hello my lovely people and oh my fucking god, there's over sixty of you currently following this story, just I'm flabbergasted and oh so very grateful. The beginning of this one fought me tooth and nail but, I got it done an edited. I have others that still need to be edited and will be posted within the next two days but, it's late and I had a long day.

Because today's my birthday! If anyone's curious, I'm now a whooping 20 years old; I still don't know how to adult yet, I'm just bullshiting my way through at this point. And in light of my birthday, besides posting more fics than normal, I'd thought I'd tell you my thoughts on the ages of the characters in this story. The only people who's ages I've made official are Izanna and Nyota, at 24. Here's my ages for the rest, if you don't like the ages feel free to ignore them: Chekov at 22, Sulu at 26, Jim and Spock at 28, Scotty at 36, and Bones at 32.

Also, I was wondering how explicit you guys would want me to get as far as smut and stuff goes. I'd obviously have to post the smut part elsewhere but I'd link you guys to it. So, just tell me, yay or nay for smut. And I will give you a fair warning if you do say yay, I've never written smut before so that'll be an adventure.

Again, thanks for all the support you lovely people. I love hearing from you so leave a comment and I hope you enjoy.

I am currently taking fanfiction request, details on my profile.

* * *

Izanna wasn't allowed to play cards anymore, she could sit and watch, join whatever conversation was going on but she wasn't allowed to play. She only had herself to blame with making it so obvious she was counting cards by never losing a round, though it took everyone nearly twenty rounds to figure it out much to her smug satisfaction. And she didn't do it on purpose, her brain just automatically counted; and while she'd never admit it, she did have a competitive streak at times. Now the only people she was allowed to sit next to were Bones and Jim, both to stubborn to take her advice at what they should do.

Sighing, she leaned on Bones shoulder and looked up at him, his mouth twitch up for a moment before going back to a straight line. Looking at his hand she very nearly pointed out the mistake he had just made but kept it to herself; he wasn't bad at cards, on the contrary, he was good but often made blatant mistakes that would cost him the round. Izanna was considering whether or not he did that purely to annoy her or maybe he really just didn't realize it was a bad move.

"I fold," Bones said, putting his cards down. He leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Don't look at my cards if you can't keep a straight face."

"Sorry," Izanna mumbled, giving him a sheepish smile.

Bones hummed in response, "You look bored, and tired."

"Is that your way of hinting I should go to bed?"

"Yes, you're still doing to much work."

"Not nearly as much though."

"Maybe so but you're worn out, don't bother trying to lie," Bones added when he saw her about to protest, "I can tell."

"I'll let you have this one," she grumbled.

Bones let out a chuckle as Izanna got up, giving him a soft kiss on his cheek and bidding everyone a goodnight. He smiled at her retreating back, not realizing another round had started until Jim shoved him to get his attention; not bothering with an apology he looked as his cards.

"You look like a lovesick puppy," Jim said.

"Doubtful" Bones stated.

"You do," Sulu agreed.

"He's not nearly as bad as Izzy though," Scotty added.

"She has never been one to hide her affection," Spock said.

"She's like a little puppy," Chevok added in his thick accent.

"I'm not entirely sure she isn't," Scotty said.

"Seems quite trainable," Jim said, smirking he turned to Bones, "You trained her to your tastes yet?"

"That was in poor taste even for you," Bones commented, not bothering to hide his distaste at the question.

"Yeah yeah, but it got the real question across now didn't it," Jim replied.

There was a silence as everyone waited for Bones to answer, letting out a sigh he set down his cards and dropped his head to his hands; rubbing his temples in small circles he quickly calm and organized his thoughts.

"We've only been dating a little over three months and every time I've made a move she's tensed up and gotten quiet. I know she has a hard time saying no at times but, even for her I'd figure she'd say something and not just, for lack of a better term, shut down," Bone confided.

"Bloody hell that woman is an idiot at times," Scotty muttered.

"Am I missing something?" Bones all but hissed at Scotty.

"Yes, you are but quite a bit of fault lies on her for not telling you. Her anxiety comes into play here, she's afraid she'll fuck up so, she gets tense and let her damn worries ruin the mood. You'll need to push her and take complete control, leaving no doubt to exactly what you want so she's not afraid she'll fuck up; outright asking her if she wants to have sex wouldn't hurt either," Scotty said.

"And she likes being ordered around?" Chevok asked.

"I think the better question here is, how do you know all this," Sulu inputted.

"She doesn't fucking shut up when she's plastered," Scotty said.

"Mr. Scott is telling the truth," Spock added, "She can be quite... talkative when intoxicated."

"Is that why Nyota's mad at her?" Jim asked.

"Subtle transition there," Bones dead-panned.

Jim just rolled his eyes and looked expectantly at Spock.

"No, that is not it. It was a secret she had been keeping from Nyota for years and," Spock continued quickly over the question about to be asked, "Izanna will tell you if she wants to but, upon Nyota's reaction she will not be so willing to tell it anytime soon."

"Our reactions would be significantly different from Uhura's," Jim said, "We're not her best friend who she's suppose to tell everything to, nor have we known her for years."

"It is not your reaction possible reaction that concerns her," Spock said.

"That wasn't ominous or anything," Bones muttered as he took a sip of whiskey.

"I told her I believe it is an appropriate time in her relationship with you to inform you on it. I suspect she is waiting for Nyota to start speaking to her again before telling you." Spock said.

"Can't you tell us anything?" Jim said, upon getting some dirty looks from his friends he added, "Sorry, sucker for gossip."

"She'll tell who she wants to in her own time," Bones growled, "So don't bother her about it Jim."

Jim held up his hands in surrender, "I wasn't planning on it. From the sounds of it, whatever it is she sounds almost, ashamed."

"She is," Spock said, noticing Scotty tense up at his words, "Though, a large part of that may be due to it is not what people would expect of her, it goes against who she is; enough were I was rendered speechless for a few moments. That may be why she has kept it a secret but, I have not talked to her about it therefore I can not be certain. I would also like to inform you that the only reason I know this is because I walked in on the conversation," Spock added, shooting Bones a significant look.

"No wonder she hasn't been eating or sleeping," Bones said, "This stress isn't good for her."

"This," Scotty said, quickly downing his drink and continuing, "Has gotten to bloody serious for me, not to mention gossipy. I'll be heading to bed."

"And I'm going to go check up on Iza," Bones said, finishing his drink and following Scotty to the door.

Both bidding everyone a goodnight, they left and entered a turbolift together; tense silence impregnating the air for a few moments.

"You know, don't you," Bones stated softly.

"Look she," Scotty started, "I've know her for a couple of years now. I've seen how she is around people she's show an interest in and they could never capture her interest for long. But, with you, it's like you have her under a spell; she's absolutely captivated by you. She really does like you and she doesn't want to have things that are in the past ending up causing her to lose you."

"But is it really just in the past?"

Scotty looked away, unable to meet the other man's eyes as even he didn't have an answer.

**OoOoO**

Bones entered Izanna's quarters as quietly as he could, the door silently slid shut behind him leaving the room dark.

"Len?" Izanna asked, her voice soft and thick with sleep.

"You should be asleep," he replied back just as softly.

"I keep telling my body that but it's not listening," she said, "Maybe you should try talking to it."

His mind started to think of all the ways he'd like to converse with her body and he quickly shoved them down; she needed to sleep and he could wait.

"Do you want me to stay for awhile?" Bones asked.

"That would be nice."

Toeing of his shoes he laid down next to her on top of the covers, settling an arm across her waist; she grumbled at him some, presumably for not getting under the cover, and scooted closer. He waited for her breathing to even out and her muscles to relax, slipping out of the bed his grab his shoes and made his way to the door. Glancing at her sleeping form as the door closed he couldn't help the smile that crossed his face or the worry that plagued his mind; for even in sleep, her face scrunched with worry, as if she could not get rid of lingering stress.

Making his way back to his own quarters he couldn't help but think about the secret she was keeping and if it was really that bad; he knew she didn't have to tell him, it was her secret and just because they were dating didn't give him the right to try to pry it from her if she doesn't want to share it. There are just some things that you can't share with certain people or aren't ready to share. He would have to be patient, even if his worry for her well being was driving him into the ground.

**OoOoO**

Izanna awake disappointed to find she was alone and woke up nearly two hours before her shift started. Knowing she wouldn't wake up to her alarm if she went back to sleep she got up and took her time getting ready, which only wasted an hour. Going to the mess hall she chased down sleepy yawns with cups of coffee and a warm breakfast. She stretched as she got up, leaving the mess hall behind as she made her way to the nearest turbolift.

She didn't want to go to her office yet, not with a half hour till her shift starts still left but, she didn't want to go back to her quarters either and risk falling asleep. Nyota still was mad and not talking to her, she was to nervous around Bones as of late with trying to tell him and failing every time. Jim was, well Jim and Spock was, well Spock. Sulu wasn't a morning person and she'd learned that one the hard way already. Chekov, bless the young thing, talked way to much in the morning; probably the coffee. And that left Scotty, who was part of the problem but, she needed someone to talk to.

Winding her way around the maze that was the lower engineering decks, she found Scotty in his usual spot. Padding up softly behind him, she sat in his line of sight, waiting for him to notice her.

"You're up early," Scotty commented.

"Unfortunately. I woke up early," she said.

"McCoy's worried about you," he said after a moment of silence, "Well, we all are a bit worried."

Izanna flinched at his words, "Do I really look that bad?"

"You don't look that bad, it's more your behavior. You're not yourself."

"Says the man who normally swears with every other word but hasn't once sworn since I began talking to him."

"Fuck off."

"Much better," she said through a soft laugh.

Silence fell between the two, Izanna content with watching Scotty fiddle with some sort of device; he suddenly turned in his chair to face her.

"Are you ashamed?" Scotty asked, giving a small gesture between the two of them.

Confusion, shock, then understanding all swept across her face; looking away from him to collect her thoughts she let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Sort of?" Izanna said, sounding more like a question, "I know I shouldn't be but, part of me can't help but be. Are you?"

"Yeah, just a tad."

"This is one thing I never expected to come back and bite me in the ass."

"I'm just fucking praying I don't get punched."

"Since when do you pray?"

"Since I've decided being punched doesn't seem like a bloody fun activity."

"Why are you getting punched?" Jim asked, confusion written on his face as he walked up to the pair of them.

"He's praying he doesn't get punched," Izanna corrected.

"Still doesn't answer my question," Jim said.

Izanna and Scotty exchanged a look, seeming to have a silent conversation between them as Scotty gestured at her she finally raised her hands up in defeat.

"Just... It's nothing important," Izanna said, dismissing the subject with a wave of her hand, "What do we owe to your presence this early?"

"I was gonna check up on you both this morning, convenient for me you happen to both be here, anyway. You've both seemed a bit off to me these last few days..." Jim said, trailing off.

Scotty and Izanna once again exchanged a look, looking slightly more alarmed; both of them gesturing at Jim as if wanting the other to talk to him.

Jim suddenly got wide eyed before shaking his head, "No that's, that's absurd." Looking between the two friends again he gasped, "No way. Seriously?"

"I blame you," Izanna said at Scotty, hopping of her seat.

"If you would just _tell _your god damn boyfriend, tiptoeing around this would be unnecessary," Scotty snapped.

"Sorry if I'm a bit reluctant to tell him," Izanna said.

"I can't _believe _this, seriously?" Jim interrupted.

"Fuck off," Izanna and Scotty said in unison.

"Look, I understand you don't want to ruin things with him but if he really does have feelings for you, he would expect that it's over and done with," Scotty said, ignoring Jim.

"But is it?" Izanna whispered.

"Yes, it's been months and," Scotty started.

"Our entire relationship," Izanna said, cutting him off, "It's what our entire friendship was based upon."

"Are you saying you don't want to be friends?" Scotty said.

Jim was being to feel like he should leave but as his eyes bounced back between the two he knew if he moved he ruin their discussion and this seemed like something they needed to talk about.

"Of course not," Izanna snapped, "How could you think that?"

"Well you basically just fucking said so."

"What I meant is, we've been just fine these past few months. Let's find something else or actually let this go."

"Do you expect me to just let it go? Can you just let it go?"

"I don't know."

"Can you really tell me that under different circumstances we wouldn't be together? Can you tell me you've never thought about it?"

"That's not fair, Scotty," Izanna said, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Life isn't fair," Scotty growled, "Are you really just going to let it go without a second thought?"

"Are you saying you wanted to make something out of this?"

"Yes, a large part of me did. Part of me felt like it was a winning hand dealt by the universe that you got assigned to this ship."

"Then you should have _said something_."

"That wasn't the deal we made though. What would you have even said to that?"

"Yes," Izanna said loudly, voice softening before speaking in a low tone, "I would have said yes."

"Bones!" Jim suddenly shouted, a forced smile making it's way to his face.

Both Izanna and Scotty jumped, looking off into the direction that Jim was waving; Scotty cleared his throat and Izanna blinked the tears out of her eyes.

"I'm late, I should got," Izanna spoke softly, quickly turning to leave in the opposite direction from which her boyfriend was coming.

"Sweeting," Scotty said, causing Izanna to wipe around wide eyed to face him, continuing in close to a pleaful voice, "And what about now?"

"Scotty!" Jim said, sounding affronted; the two fighting friends ignored him.

"I don't think that really even deserves and answer," Izanna quietly said.

Turning on heel she quickly walked away, finding the nearest turbolift and heading straight to her station; only glancing back at Bones as the doors close and having to look away as he stood there looking confused and hurt.

"Come on Scotty," Jim said, not unkindly, "That was out of line, you knew the an.."

"I had to make sure," Scotty snapped, "I had to know for sure."

"What's going on?" Bones growled, fists clenching, "Why was she nearly _in tears_?"

"I suggest talking to her after her shift is over," Scotty said in a monotone voice, "She'll have calmed down and organized her thoughts by then."

"And you can't just tell me now because..." Bones said trailing off.

"Because it's not my bloody place to tell you," Scotty curtly replied, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to do."

Scotty sat back down and turned his back on the two, hands slightly shaky as he picked back up what he was working on.

"Let's go Bones," Jim said.

Bones let Jim tug him along to the turbolift; confused, angry, and hurt he wanted to scream in frustration.

"Jim," Bones started once the doors had closed.

"I can't tell you," Jim quickly said.

"Of course you can't," he deadpanned.

After a some silence Jim finally broke it, "You need to relax a little. At this rate you'll go grey before you even have kids."

"Kids?" Bones said, voice jumping several octaves.

"To early?"

"Yes!"

"Well, I thought it was funny," Jim muttered under his breath.

Resisting the strong urge to strange his best friend, because _at some point_ he'd regret it, he got off the turbolift and made his way to his office to distract himself with work for the next eight long hours.

**OoOoO**

Izanna sat on her bed, head resting on her knees as she hug her legs to her chest. She was still shaken up from earlier, she hadn't expected things to get so... intense and messy. To make matters worse her boyfriend had shone up, probably to check on her too, only to be completely ignored and left there. She might lose him, it brought tears to her eyes thinking she might lose him and while they'd only officially been dating a short while, it felt longer than that; the connection she felt with him was strong and she knew he felt it too, both having been screwed over by love before they were taking things slow.

Bringing the front of the overly large shirt she wore up to her nose she took a deep breath in, breathing in the comforting scent of her lover; her mind couldn't help but momentarily wander to the worst and hope that he didn't ask for the shirt back because she really didn't have anything on underneath and this situation did not need to be more awkward. Falling onto her side she continued to lay curled up in a ball, she hadn't cried yet and she really didn't want to but, she knew the first person she talked about this with would probably have a very wet shoulder by the time all was said and done.

It was a game of roulette almost, who would come through her door. Names kept whirling round in her mind and she wasn't sure if she even _wanted_ anyone to come through the door but, who could really blame her. She had nothing to be ashamed about and yet, she felt guilty and not just because she kept it from her best friend for years but, guilty for her actions. Speaking encouraging words to herself, she assured herself she had done nothing wrong, it was her secret to keep if she wished and she her actions were nothing to be ashamed about.

The tone indicating someone wished to enter her quarters sounded, frowning she sat up and called to enter. She took in a sharp breath and she wasn't sure if she was relieved to get talking with her boyfriend over first or not. Leaning against the headboard she once again brought her knees to her chest and waited for Bones to come sit. Feeling the bed dip next to her, she afforded herself a glance and looked away, not quite able to meet his eyes just yet. Letting out a soft sigh he sat next to her, legs stretched out in front of him and his shoulder lightly brushing hers every few breaths.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Bones asked softly, voice low and unaccusing.

"Yes and no," Izanna replied, voice just as quiet.

"Why don't you start from the beginning," he suggested.

"Gimme a minute," she said.

He only hummed in response, waiting anxious and trying not to let it show.

"It started around four years ago," Izanna said, starting to spin her tale, "I had just broken up with my ex a month or so prier. I was so very hurt and sad, but mostly lonely. And I guess that's where it started, with loneliness.

"I went to a bar, I wanted to drink and to have the noise block out everything going through my head; I wanted to be numb. That's where I meet Scotty, I don't remember much of that night but, I woke up in the morning in his bed. I felt awkward and uncomfortable, I just wanted to leave. Instead we somehow started talking and we had a lot in common, enjoyed one another's company; somehow I'd come away from a weird and awkward night with a friend. We were both on shore leave at the time and meet up quite a lot over the next few days and somewhere in there we had come to an agreement."

Izanna paused for a moment, to spare a glance at Bones and felt her heart start breaking; his jaw was set, fists clench hard enough that his knuckles were white, and he sat rim-rod straight. Taking a deep breath she continued.

"We came to an agreement; we would met and, just for awhile, leave the outside world behind. The stress, the doubts, the fears, all the worries we carried would get left at the door. And, we'd use one another, use the other's body, to try and kill the loneliness we felt. When we didn't have shore leave we'd send one another messages, just little insignificant things. For two years we saw each other every few months or so, until I was assigned to the Gallahan then we hadn't seen each other for two years, just the messages. The day before I came aboard the Enterprise we met up once again, I mentioned I'd be gone for a few years and he said that was alright cause he'd be gone for a few years too. Quite the surprise I got on my first day, seeing him. We had agreed that day that it would be best if we were to not sleep with one another while working on the same ship. I'm not going to lie, I did think about being actually being with him and while my feelings hadn't quite developed into romantic I knew I could be happy, content with him.

"Then you came along," Izanna said, Bones turned to look at her, the smile on her face clearly leaking through into her voice. "And I didn't give what I could have had with Scotty a second thought for all those months, because of how you consumed my thoughts. It wasn't until a little after we'd gotten together that Nyota asked about how I meet Scotty that I started to think about it again, not the being in a relationship with him. But, how was I gonna tell Nyota, that's not something I could keep from her any longer. And, how was I gonna tell you? It wasn't a secret that would remain that way forever. I figured I'd tell you both around the same time, whenever, it felt right to tell you. Whenever I felt, that what I had done in the past wouldn't cause me to lose you."

"Understandable," Bones said, Izanna jumping at his sudden interjection, "Why didn't you tell Nyota, or anyone, earlier? Why keep it a secret?"

"Because, it allowed me an escape where the rest of my life couldn't touch me, worry me, bother me. A part of me wanted to, just have something to myself, something I didn't need to explain or defend my actions. And, a part of me was, is, also ashamed. A purely sexual relationship isn't like me at all, but at that point, I was so desperately trying to fill that loneliness that I didn't care."

"Did you?"

"Eventually, and it wasn't the relationship I held with Scotty that helped me fill it but the ones I had developed on the Gallahan and the ones I still had. I realized, though I may feel lonely, I am not alone, nor have I ever been."

"Do you regret it?"

"No. I won't regret how I've gone about battling my loneliness, nor will I apologize for it."

"You don't have anything to apologize for."

Izanna turned to look at him, not expecting those words and not expecting him to be looking right at her either. Not able to identify all the emotions in his eyes, the intensity of it made her want to look away but she found herself unable to.

"That argument, you had with Scotty today was that about..."

"Yes, it was about what could have been between us. He told me he had wanted to try."

"What did you tell him?"

"That he should have said something. He got mad at that, thinking that I hadn't wanted to try and would have said no, that I didn't want anything more than sex. I told him I would have said yes."

Bones seemed to lose his breath at this, his eyes wide and he was certain he couldn't hide the fear or hurt from her. He wanted to say something but his lungs still weren't working and she was speaking again, he had to listen.

"You heard him call me sweeting, what he called me when we were together, and ask; what about now? I told him it didn't deserve an answer, because he very well knows the depths of my feelings for you. There was no way in hell I'd have even considered it but, I think he only asked so it would be said out loud, so we'd both know and could truly move on."

"Have you?" he whispered, voice sounding much more desperate than he would have liked.

"I had started moving on even before I set foot aboard the Enterprise and I have. Certain feelings will never go away but they'll fade in time and he will always be a dear friend to me."

"Do you ever wonder what if?" Bones asked, closing his eyes and resting his forehead on hers, not wanting to know the answer but at the same time needing to know.

"No, because I know what would have happened."

Moving his head away to look at her, he gave her a very confused look, "What?"

A large smile grace her face, "I would have fallen for you."

"You're sure?"

"!00% positive."

"How can you possible know that?"

"Don't you remember what I said? That I had completely forgot about even considering a relationship with Scotty because you consumed my thoughts and I know if I had been in a relationship with him you'd have still consumed my thoughts. I was a goner before I even knew it."

Bones couldn't help but smile and sling an arm around her shoulder, pulling her in close. Her arms wrapped around him and she clung to his shirt, burying her face in his chest. He felt her body shake with a sob and held her tighter.

"Are you not upset?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm upset," he said, "I'm upset that he's made you cry."

"That's not really his fault," Izanna mumbled into his shirt.

"And I'm really fucking jealous, hell, I don't think I've ever been this jealous before."

"Jealous?" she said, looking up at him.

Taking her head between his hands he told her, "very", before leaning down and kissing her.

He kissed her hard and with as much passion as he could muster. Sliding his hands through her hair he used that as leverage to better angle her head and pried her mouth open, letting his tongue twine with hers. He explored every inch of her mouth and then some, dominating her and not letting her come up for breath until he was good and finished; smirking as she whimper at the lose of his lips. She panted heavily, trying to catch her breath before he stole it away again.

Pushing her down onto her back he was nipping at her neck, enticing a few moans out of her when she said something so softly he almost missed it.

"I kinda like jealous you," she mutter, more to herself than anything.

Hovering above her on his hands and knees, having one of her hands pinned to either side of her head.

"I'm going to make you _thoroughly _regret those words," Bones said in a low husky voice.

Never one to go back on his word, she came to mildly regret her words.


End file.
